Controversial electoral reforms: Senate panel deliberations made time-bound

ISLAMABAD: After ensuring a clear majority for the ruling coalition in a Senate panel, the parliamentary committee has been obligated to conclude its deliberations on electoral reforms and present its report in the Upper House on or before Sep 12.

That the government has to pass even the most controversial reforms that have been repeatedly dismissed by the opposition parties reflects the urgency at the top for moving ahead with the reforms.

The notice of three-day discussions by the Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, however, doesn’t fix any time or date for the input, briefing and presentation by the three non-voting special invitees – Raza Rabbani, Afnanullah Khan and Musadik Malik – all belonging to the opposition parties. Their names appear in the officially released notice.

Originally, the committee comprised 13-members, six each from the ruling alliance and opposition parties with its chairman Taj Haider of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) having the casting vote. Thus, the opposition previously had an edge of one vote over the government and its allies.

But the forum now has eight government senators and six opposition members, including the committee chairman. This obviously enables the ruling coalition to bulldoze the electoral reforms package, that, among several other key measures, provides for the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in elections and i-voting by overseas Pakistanis.

Since the government has no doubt whatsoever that the opposition will block the amendments relating to the use of EVMs and i-voting for overseas Pakistanis and some other reforms that they have repeatedly rejected publicly, the makeup of the Senate panel has been changed with new additions by the Senate chairman, obviously after prodding from the government.

Making the three-day deliberations of the Senate committee time-bound for presentation of its report in the House on or before Sep 12 clearly means that the government has taken a decision to have the matter put before the Senate for approval in a short span of time and try to get them cleared by the Upper House.

The discussions in the committee are significant as the secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will give a briefing, highlighting its publicly voiced objections and reservations over at least 45 out of a total of 72 proposed amendments in the Elections Act, which was unanimously passed by the previous government in 2017.

Sometime ago, Attorney General of Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan told this correspondent that several proposed electoral reforms conflicted with the Constitution. He advised Prime Minister Imran Khan to find a way out in consultation with the major stakeholders and political parties so that a consensus package emerges. He had said that the National Database & Registration Authority (Nadra) couldn’t be a substitute for the ECP, which was an independent constitutional institution. He said Nadra could provide technical assistance and extend a supportive role but can’t take away the functions given to the ECP by the Constitution. No unilateral and one-sided amendments would be made in the Elections Act, he said.

Before that the government had also hinted that it was willing to withdraw certain amendments, but it stubbornly insisted on introducing the EVMs and i-voting. Its oft-repeated aim is to have elections that nobody disputes afterwards because of their transparency. However, the way it is proceeding is making the future polls contentious even before they are held.

The two bills providing for amendments in the Elections Act, which are before the Senate committee, were unilaterally hastily passed by the government on June 10 in the National Assembly amid the opposition’s protest. Later, the government said that these bills would be debated threadbare in the Senate committee with a view to evolving a consensus.

However, if an agreement was not reached in the Senate forum –and there are very clear indications that it would not happen given the inflexible stands of the two sides on the EVMs and i-voting —the government would take the bills to a joint session of parliament if they were rejected by the opposition-dominated Senate. Since the ruling coalition has a slight majority in the two Houses put together, it is confident that it will carry the day without much hassle.

Apart from taking the opposition parties on board, the ruling alliance is also required to satisfy the ECP because the electoral body doesn’t so far agree with the government’s stand despite all the pressure on it. After all, it is the ECP, which has the constitutional responsibility and function to implement measures like the EVM and i-voting and ensure that the elections are fair, free and transparent.

The government side is represented in the Senate committee by Azam Swati, Dr. Farogh Naseem, Sania Nishtar, Syed Ali Zafar, Walid Iqbal, Abida Azeem, Hilalur Rehman and Samina Mumtaz, who is a new inductee. The parliamentary affairs minister is its ex-officio member, who doesn’t have the right to vote.

The opposition is represented by Taj Haider, Azam Nazeer Tarar, Farooq Naek, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, who has been brought back in the panel after the PPP protested over his removal from the committee, Kamran Murtaza and Prof. Sajid Mir.