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Thursday March 28, 2024

Govt ready to withdraw election law changes violating Constitution

By Ansar Abbasi
July 14, 2021
Govt ready to withdraw election law changes violating Constitution

ISLAMABAD: The government is willing to withdraw all those amendments in the Election Act 2017, recently bulldozed through the National Assembly, that are in violation of the Constitution.

The government assured the Senate committee on parliamentary affairs that anything violative of the Constitution will be taken back.

The controversial government-backed electoral reform bill, after its passage by the National Assembly in an indecent haste, has already been frozen on the direction of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

It is said that Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan played an important role in changing the government’s position. After bulldozing the bill, the government is now seeking a consensus with the opposition on changes in the electoral system and attempting to take the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) into confidence.

The attorney general, who recently met the prime minister, told him that the bill passed by the National Assembly contained amendments which appear to be in violation of the Constitution. Sources said that the AG also advised the prime minister to take all the stakeholders, including the opposition and the ECP, into confidence for a consensus reform package instead of rushing through its choice amendments.

It was after his meeting with the AG that the prime minister directed that the bill in its present shape would neither be passed by the Senate nor through a joint session of parliament. The premier had also assigned the AG to contact the legal experts of the opposition parties, besides consulting the ECP, to create a consensus on electoral reforms that are acceptable to all concerned.

Khalid Jawed Khan not only met the Chief Election Commissioner but also spoke to the opposition’s legal experts such as Farooq H Naek and Azam Tarar to bring about consensus changes in the election laws.

The government bill, which was bulldozed through the National Assembly, is presently being considered by the Senator Taj Haider-led Senate Committee on parliamentary affairs. The committee on Monday was assured by the minister of state for parliamentary affairs that any amendment found violative of the Constitution would be taken back by the government.

As per the wishes of the prime minister, the government’s keenness is on two areas of the electoral reforms. Firstly, the PTI wants to allow overseas Pakistanis to take part in the election process by casting their vote in the next general elections in 2023. Secondly, the government wants to introduce an electronic voting system in the next general elections in order to get quick results.

As against the National Assembly committee, which did not hear either the opposition nor the ECP while clearing the government bill for its placement before the lower house for voting, the Senate committee is discussing the bill with an open mind. It has been decided that the ECP would also be given a full opportunity to share its views about the bill.

The ECP has already shared with the Senate Committee members its point-wise opinion about the bill recently passed by the National Assembly. The ECP found several changes in the bill passed by the NA unconstitutional. It also pointed out that the government’s bill curtails the Commission’s powers by assigning NADRA the task of preparing and revising electoral rolls despite the Constitution guaranteeing that no law passed by parliament will have the effect of taking away or abridging any of the powers of the ECP.

The ECP is also of the view that amendments in Section 17, 21, 24, 25, 26, 34, 44, 95, 104 and 231 of the Election Act 2017 are in violation of the Constitution.