ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Thursday that the electoral reforms package would be ready before the budget. Talking to the media after chairing a meeting of the parliamentary committee on electoral reforms, Dar said that a bill for the enactment of the law would soon be tabled in the Parliament.
Giving details of the proceedings, the minister said that the committee had held its 21st meeting on Thursday. “Overall, 102 meetings of both the main committee and the sub-committee have been held so far,” Dar said.
“Today, the committee discussed additional proposals that have been received since submission of its second interim report on electoral reforms to the Senate and National Assembly in December, 2016. So far, 631 new proposals have been received and the committee will consider them all,” he said.
He said that convener Zahid Hamid had done a lot of hard work by going through the long list of proposals and holding detailed consultations with members of the committee.
The minister said that the sub-committee would now meet daily. “It is our endeavour to consolidate nine different election laws into one law. This is being done after 40 years,” he said.
Dar added that the sub-committee had met three times this week. “It is our resolve to place the bill on electoral reforms before the Parliament as soon as possible,” he said.
He said that work on electoral reforms had been pending for a long time. “From January onwards, we have been totally focused on legislation regarding military courts. Now, we intend to complete the necessary work on electoral reforms on a fast pace,” the finance minister said.
The minister said that the matter regarding electronic voting and biometrics was also being looked into by a sub-committee, headed by MNA Arif Alvi. He said all political parties were jointly working for consolidation of various electoral laws into one composite law.
