The Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice on Friday passed 'The Election Bill, 2017' with amendments, including deletion of a clause related to submission of wealth statement by parliamentarians along with details of their assets and liabilities details from the proposed new election law. The committee which met with Senator Muhammad Javed Abbasi discussed the amendments proposed by Senator Muhammad Mohsin Khan Leghari, Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq, Murtaza Wahab and officials of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in detail and passed the bill.
The 'Election Bill, 2017' was tabled by Federal Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid and has already been passed by the National Assembly. It was referred to the Senate for its consideration and Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani referred it to the committee.
Discussing the clause related to submission of annual wealth statement including assets and liabilities, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq said that filing of wealth statement is very tedious exercise as it is not easy to submit it without help from an accountant; therefore, the submission of wealth statement be removed from the mentioned clause and only submission of list of assets and liabilities be made mandatory.
"There is no need to submit wealth statement along with the assets and liabilities form...therefore I'm suggesting to remove the said clause from the new election law," she proposed, adding that the format of wealth statement is very tedious. Zahid Hamid, while supporting the point of view of Senator Ayesha, said that Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has totally changed the format of wealth statement; due to this, it would be a difficult process for the parliamentarians to file their wealth statements along with the assets and liabilities. He said that parliamentarians have been submitting lists of assets and liabilities since 1976 and there would be no harm to continue to do so.
During the previous meeting, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Azam Khan Swati while supporting the abovementioned clause in the bill said that the clause will play a key role in identifying dishonest people as well as help discourage corruption.
The committee also discussed amendments proposed by Senator Muhammad Mohsin Khan Leghari related to technical matters as well as replacement of certain words and phrases to make the intention and purpose of sections clear. Senator Leghari suggested that nomination papers and objections for women reserved seats should be submitted in the relevant districts. However, the committee did not accept it after the ECP officials objected to it. The committee approved amendment suggested by Senator Leghari pertaining to the expenditure of the candidate and party election expenses. Senator Murtaza Wahab suggested that the original political parties act should be restored.
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