ISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reform has given green signal to Election Act 2017 amid Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) walkout from the meeting for not considering its proposals.
The meeting of parliamentary committee was held under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, which approved the new law.
Talking to the media, Ishaq Dar claimed that all parties were on one page over the approved act and expressed their satisfaction.
“Nine different bills have been merged into the Election Act 2017 as the rules regarding the bill will be drafted at a later stage,” Dar said.
Earlier, as the meeting started, the PTI members boycotted it over the committee’s refusal to accept their recommendations.
PIT leader Shafqat Mehmood, after the boycott, said that overseas Pakistanis should be given voting right, and that without biometric verification electoral process could not be made transparent, but committee did not work on the issue.
Arif Alvi alleged that the PTI stressed the need for using biometric verification but the committee did not paid any heed, as they were not ready to change the system.
Head of Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) Aftab Sherpao termed the approval of bill “historic” after the 18th Amendment Bill. JI leader Sahibzada Tariqullah said that despite some reservation – biometric verification, voting for overseas Pakistanis and women’s 10 percent share – his party supported the bill.
The meeting was attended by members of the committee as well as officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan and Ministry of Law and Parliamentary Affairs. A constitutional amendments bill relating to the Election Commission of Pakistan is pending finalisation before the committee.
It may be mentioned here that hours after PTI leaders walked out of the meeting discussing electoral reforms, Imran Khan said they had “serious reservations” over the existing Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), demanding the body be reconstituted.
“Reconstitution of the ECP is imperative before the upcoming general elections owing to the lack of trust political parties have in the existing set-up,” he told reporters on Wednesday evening.
Imran demanded that overseas Pakistanis be given the right to vote, as they send billions of rupees to the country every year.
Moreover, he said the caretaker government must be selected after taking all parties on board. The PTI chairman also put forth a demand to introduce biometric identification system in the forthcoming polls.
Published in Daily Times, July 20th , 2017.
