Election (Amendment) Bill, 2020: 49 amendments proposed

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs on Saturday proposed as many as 49 amendments to the Election (Amendment) Bill, 2020.

The Election (Amendment) Bill was introduced in the National Assembly on October 16, 2020 and was referred to the Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs the same day.

Some major proposed amendments to the bill include more financial autonomy to Election Commission of Pakistan (Section.11(2)); delimitation on the basis of equal number of voters instead of population (Sections 17&20); appeal to Supreme Court by any aggrieved person on delimitation lists (Section 21(5) new); variation in delimitation not exceeding 5% (instead of 10%) (Section 20); sections relating to electoral rolls by ECP to be omitted (24, 26, 28-34, 36-42, 44).