Govt proposes changes in electoral, social media defamation rules

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said on Saturday that two important bills relating to lawmakers participation in the electoral campaigns and social media have been sent to the federal cabinet for approval.

“Two key laws have been sent to the federal cabinet for approval. The first is to allow parliamentarians to participate in election campaigns, while the other is to make it a punishable offence to insult people on social media,” he said in a Twitter post.

The development comes a week after ECP disqualified Umar, brother of Minister of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Gandapur, from contesting local body elections. The ECP barred him after his repeated violations of the election code of conduct despite warnings.

IT ministry notifies amended Social Media Rules 2021

Later, Umar filed a petition through his counsels Barrister Ali Zafar and Chaudhary Ashraf Gujjar advocate and challenged the decision of the ECP barring him from contesting the elections of DI Khan’s City Mayor.

IHC allows Umar Amin Gandapur to contest mayor elections of DI Khan

Last year, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication had notified amended social media rules which state that every person or organisation shall have the right to express and disseminate any online content as enshrined under Article 19 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973.