22nd Constitutional Amendment bill presented to PM

ISLAMABAD: The constitutional amendment bill, presented to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif by the committees on Wednesday, which is meant to curb ‘horse trading’ in the Senate elections, seeks open ballot and categorization of floor crossing as defection.
A copy of the draft bill, available with The News, amends three constitutional provisions including articles 59 (The Senate), 63A (disqualification on grounds of defection, etc.) and 226 (elections by secret ballot) and also says the changes do not prejudice the schedule for the Senate elections, which has already been issued.
While the prime minister was seriously pushed to amending the Constitution to eliminate use of money as demanded by some political parties, his effort suffered a setback after the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has opposed the open ballot. After that Nawaz Sharif has decided to directly talk to the chiefs of the political parties especially the PPP to persuade them into coming on board.
The draft reads a bill further to amend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Whereas it is expedient further to amend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, it is hereby enacted as follows: 1. Short titled and commencement- This Act may be called the Constitution (Twenty-Second Amendment). It shall come into force at once.
Amendment of Article 59 of the Constitution: In the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, hereinafter referred to as the Constitution, in Article 59, in paragraph (a), for the word “elected” the word “chosen” shall be substituted.
Amendment of Article 63A of the Constitution: In the Constitution, in Article 63, in clause (1), in paragraph (b), in subparagraph (iii), after the semicolon at the end, the word “or” shall be added and after subparagraph (iii) amended as aforesaid the following new subparagraph shall be added, namely: “(iv) elections for the Senate”.”
Amendment of Article 226 of the Constitution: In the Constitution, in Article 226, after the word “of” the word and comma “Senate,” shall be inserted.
General. The provisions of the Constitution (Twenty-Second Amendment) Act, 2015 shall be without prejudice to the process of Senate Elections already issued.
In clause (1)(a) of article 59, the amendment replaces only one word ‘elected’ with ‘chosen’. The substitution implies that since a lawmaker has to be ‘elected’ through secret ballot as required by the present constitutional scheme, which this amendment dispenses with in the case of the Senate elections, the secret ballot doesn’t apply to the one ‘chosen’.
The alteration in article 63A adds eighth ground (voting in the Senate against party direction) for committing the offence of floor crossing, leading to ouster from the legislature.
If the proposed amendment in article 63A is carried, anybody defecting in the Senate elections will face the procedure for his unseating spelt out in this provision.
It says if a member of a parliamentary party composed of a single political party in the National Assembly, the Senate or a provincial assembly resigns from membership of his political party or joins another one; or votes or abstains from voting in the House contrary to any direction issued by the parliamentary party to which he belongs, in relation to election of the prime minister or the chief minister; or a vote of confidence or a vote of no-confidence; or a Money Bill or a constitutional amendment bill, he may be declared in writing by the Party Head to have defected from the political party, and the party head may forward a copy of the declaration to the Presiding Officer (Speaker or Chairman) and the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) will similarly forward a copy to the member concerned provided that before making the declaration, the party head will provide such lawmaker with an opportunity to show cause as to why such declaration may not be made against him. The party head means any person by whatever name called declared as such by the party.
A legislator will be deemed to be a member of a parliamentary party if he, having been elected as a candidate or nominee of a political party which constitutes the parliamentary party in the House or, having been elected otherwise than as a candidate or nominee of a political party, has become a member of such parliamentary party after such election by means of a declaration in writing.
Upon receipt of the declaration, the Presiding Officer will within two days refer, and in case he fails to do so it will be deemed that he has referred, the declaration to the CEC who will lay the declaration before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for its decision thereon confirming the declaration or otherwise within thirty days of its receipt by the CEC.
Where the ECP confirms the declaration, the concerned member will cease to be a lawmaker and his seat will become vacant. Any party aggrieved by the ECP decision may, within thirty days, prefer an appeal to the Supreme Court which will decide the matter within ninety days from the date of the filing of the appeal.