Chairman Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms Muhammad Ishaq Dar has said that Electoral Reforms Committee of the Parliament has decided to replace all existing election laws with a unified draft Elections Act 2016, which will empower the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), besides other rectifications in the system.
The purpose of Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms is to put the new legislation in place to conduct free, fair and transparent elections in the country, Minister for Finance Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar who was flanked by Minister for Climate Change Zahid Hamid and Minister for Information Technology Anusha Rahman said this at a press conference here on Wednesday.
Dar said the government is making efforts to ensure that next general polls are held in free, fair and transparent manner, adding that 40-years-old election laws are being replaced with a single comprehensive law. He said the new law will replace all the existing laws including 'The Election Commission Order, 2002,' 'The Conduct of General Election Order. 2002,' 'The Representative of Peoples Act, 1976,' 'The Political Parties Order, 2002,' 'The Allocation of Symbols Order, 2002,' 'The Electoral Rolls Act, 1974' and 'The Delimitation of Constituencies Act 1974.
He said the purpose of replacing the existing set of election laws with the draft Election Act 2016 is to consolidate different laws relating to the conduct of election. He said that general election carried out in 2013 was in accordance with the old legislation; however, the committee is determined to formulate a new law and has so far conducted 70 meetings wherein participation from every political party was ensured.
The minister said the draft of new election bill 2017 has been presented in the National Assembly and it will later be tabled in the Senate. He said the committee has started working on the new law on the proposal of parliamentarians. The Sub-committee is thoroughly working over amendments in the law.
He said that thirty days period has been given for submission of suggestions by the parliamentarians, general public, civil society and other stakeholders. Minister for Law and Justice and Convenor Sub-Committee on Electoral Reforms, Zahid Hamid said that the committee enjoys the representation of all mainstream political parties.
He said that under the proposed law, a criterion has been set for printing of additional ballot papers to be used in the general election. Unlike the past, the proposed law will allow persons with disability to cast their votes through postal ballots. Recounting of vote will be held in case the difference of votes cast between winner and runner-up will be five per cent or 10,000 during consolidation of election results.
In future, the committee proposed that in case of election to an Assembly where there is an equality of votes between two candidates, the election tribunal shall declare both the candidates as returned candidates and each one of them shall be entitled to represent his constituency in the Assembly for half of its term of office. He said under the proposed electoral law, fake voting would be a punishable offence and it would be traced through forensic audit by National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA). Under the proposed amendments, the applicants for new Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) will be registered to their own constituency automatically under new arrangements.
He further said the committee has yet to finalise recommendations regarding voting by overseas Pakistanis, biometric verification and electoral voting; however, it has asked the Election Commission of Pakistan to check these options experimentally and propose amendments in the respective laws.
He further said that dispute resolution will be decided on a day-to-day hearing basis. Every member of an assembly and Senate shall submit to the commission by December 31 a copy of his wealth statement including assets and liabilities of his or her spouse and dependent children.
The commission shall at least six months before the general election is due to be held on expiry of the term of an assembly prepare a comprehensive action plan specifying all legal and administrative measures. The commission shall delimit territorial constituencies for elections to the National Assembly, every provincial assembly and to the local government in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
A caretaker government shall perform its functions to attend to day-to-day matters which are necessary to run the affairs of the government. The caretaker government will restrict itself to the activities that are of routine nature, non-controversial, urgent and reversible by the future government. He further said that the second interim report on electoral reforms is available on website for review and comments.
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