Parliamentary body approves proposal on intra-party polls

ISLAMABAD: The Sub-committee of the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms on Wednesday approved the proposal for conducting the intra-party elections after six years instead of four years.

The decision was taken in the meeting of Sub-committee of the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms, which was held with the chair of its Chairman Law Minister Zahid Hamid here on Wednesday.

Talking to newsmen after the meeting, Zahid Hamid said there was a consensus opinion of all the political parties that instead of four years, the intra-party elections should be held after every six years.

He said the sub-committee has approved the same nomination papers of the candidates for both the houses of parliament — Senate and National Assembly. “The Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms will take a final decision on the reservations of the Election Commission of Pakistan on the nomination papers,” he added.

Zahid Hamid said it was also agreed in the meeting that the security of those candidates will be confiscated who get votes less than one fourth of the total votes cast. He said the political parties had developed a consensus on majority of the issues and now the committee would hold its final meeting next week to submit its report to the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms.