Comprehensive electoral reforms: 33-member Parliamentary Committee to be constituted

A Parliamentary Committee comprising 33 members of the Parliament will be constituted for preparing a comprehensive electoral reforms package to ensure free, fair and transparent elections in the country.
According to sources, the committee will comprise seven members from ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), four from Pakistan People's Party (PPP), three each from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), two from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) and one member from other smaller parties.
The sources said that representation to each small party either it is in Senate, National Assembly or both house would be given in the Committee, so they could not raise any objection on the recommendations of the Committee for electoral reforms.
The single-member parties such as Awami Muslim League (AML) of Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and Qaumi Watan Party (Sherpao), will also be given representation in the Committee.
The National Assembly has already a motion unanimously authorising Speaker to constitute a Parliamentary Committee for preparing recommendations for electoral reforms.
The Committee was being constituted in pursuance of the Prime Minister's letter dated June 10, 2014, which called upon the Speaker to constitute a Parliamentary Committee. The Speaker may replace any member of the Committee on the request of the leader of the concerned party. The Committee will present its report to the Parliament within three months from the date of the notification of the Committee.
According to a handout issued by National Assembly Secretariat, a consultative meeting was held at Parliament House on Friday morning with Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in the chair. The meeting was convened to discuss constitution of the proposed Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms.
The Speaker thanked all the parliamentary leaders and representatives of political parties for attending the meeting. He said that giving importance to the matter, the Committee should meet on daily basis and evaluate the shortcomings of the existing electoral system and make recommendations to ensure free, fair and transparent elections. He said that he had not consented to the proposal of extending for one month the committee's tenure so it should complete the task assigned to it within the stipulated timeframe. He was confident that the Committee would make comprehensive recommendations acceptable to all.
After detailed discussion, all the participants agreed on the composition of the proposed Committee. It was agreed that the committee will comprise 33-member from all the parliamentary parties in proportion to their representation in Parliament. The major parties decided to relinquish one seat each from their quota to accommodate single-member parties in the Parliament, whose representation was otherwise not possible. The Speaker asked the Parliamentary leaders to forward names of their Members to the National Assembly Secretariat at the earliest.
The Speaker further informed the participants that he would meet Chairman Senate and take him on board regarding constitution of the proposed committee, as a similar resolution needs to be moved in the Senate.
The meeting was attended by Syed Khursheed Ahmad Shah, Leader of Opposition, Rana Tanvir Hussain, Minister for Defence Production, Zahid Hamid, Minister for Science & Technology, Khwaja Saad Rafiq, Minister for Railways, Sheikh Aftab Ahmad, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, MNAs Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, Shahida Akhtar Ali, Ghous Bux Khan Mahar, Sahibzada Tariq Ullah, Usman Khan Tarrakai, Syed Naveed Qamar, Abdul Rahim Mandokhail, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Sufyan Yousuf, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Muhammad Muzammil Qureshi and Dr Arif Alvi.