'The Election Bill, 2017' was presented in the National Assembly on Monday with dissent notes from opposition parties, including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Pakistan Peoples Party and Jamaat-e-Islami. Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar presented the bill in the house with a hope that a consensus would be evolved to pass the bill unanimously.
The government will allow the members to present their proposals and debate the bill as this would not be sent to a standing committee again for further discussion. The house may pass the bill in the next couple of days. Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid spoke about salient features of the bill, saying that eight election laws have been consolidated to make it a comprehensive law.
He said the government was still ready to accommodate opposition's amendments in the bill. PTI member Shah Mahmood Qureshi urged the government to develop a consensus on the bill to plug its loopholes. He said that overseas Pakistanis should be given the right to vote in this bill.
Zahid Hamid also informed the house that the ECP would have full administrative powers to control and transfer election officials during elections and take disciplinary action against them for misconduct. He said that enabling provisions have been made for the ECP to conduct pilot projects for the utilization of electronic voting machines, biometric identity verification, and voting by overseas Pakistanis.
Wealth statement to be filed by a member shall be in the same form as is submitted under the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001. Also, local government constituencies shall be delimited by delimitation committees set up by the ECP for each district. The Chief Election Commissioner would have full financial powers, including powers to create posts within approved budgetary allocations, he added.
The minister said the ECP is also being empowered to make rules without prior approval of the President or the government. However, such rules would be subject to prior publication, seeking suggestions within 15 days of such publication, he added. The ECP shall take special measures to encourage participation of women in the electoral process, including registration of women voters and actual voting on polling day.
If the variation in the number of men and women voters in a constituency is more than 10 percent, special measures will be taken by ECP to reduce such variation. If the victory margin between the returned candidate and runner-up candidate is less than 5 percent of the total votes polled or 10,000 votes, whichever is less, the returning officer shall recount all the votes on the request of a contesting candidate before commencement of the consolidation of the results.
In case of equality of votes between the two candidates, both will be declared returned candidates and each shall become member for half of the term of the Assembly. The Presiding Officer will submit gender-segregated figures of voters in each polling station. If the turnout of women voters is less than 10 per cent of the total votes polled in the constituency, the ECP may presume that women have been restrained through an agreement from casting their votes and may declare polling at one or more polling stations, or election in the whole constituency as void.
The ECP shall prepare a comprehensive action plan six months before the elections specifying all legal and administrative measures that have been taken or are required to be taken. It is also being authorized to redress complaints and grievances during various stages of the election process (other than challenge to the election itself under Article 225), its decisions can be appealed in the Supreme Court.
The ECP shall delimit constituencies after every census and NADRA (National Database Registration Authority) will transmit relevant data of every CMG issued by it to the ECP so every citizen who obtains a CNIC (Computerized National Identity Card) from NADRA can automatically be enrolled as voter at his permanent or temporary address on the basis of his option in the application for issuance of CNIC.
Hard and soft (in USB-MF format) copies of electoral rolls (with photographs of voters) will be provided to all candidates on payment ensuring that these are the same copies as available with the returning officer and presiding officers.
The proposed bill provides, as far as practicable, distance between a polling station and voters assigned to it, shall not exceed one kilometer and list of polling stations and polling scheme shall be published at least 30 days before the polling day.
The ECP is also being empowered to install surveillance cameras at highly sensitive polling stations for remote monitoring of activities in such polling stations. Nominations or candidature fees for the National Assembly, provincial assemblies and Senate shall be Rs 30,000; Rs 20,000 and Rs 20,000 respectively.
Moreover, while scrutinizing a nomination paper, the retuning officer shall not ask any question which has no nexus to the information, supplied or received or objections raised by any person, or tangible material on record. In case of any default on payment of taxes, loans, utility expenses or other government duties, a candidate may clear the default at the time of scrutiny of the nomination papers, except in the case of willful concealment.
For ballot papers, the ECP will itself determine constituency-wise requirements of ballot papers based on the formula that number of ballot papers per polling station shall be equal to the number of voters at the polling station, rounded off to the next hundred.
The returning officer shall immediately prepare a provisional result of the constituency and will finally consolidate the result within three days from the polling day or within five days in case of recounting of votes. To check mushroom growth of political parties, the Bill provides that conditions for enlistment of a new political party with the ECP will include, in addition to existing requirements, minimum 2000 members and Rs 200,000 enlistment fee. A political party shall submit to the ECP annual financial statement and list of donors who have donated Rs 100,000 and above to the political party.
About caretaker governments, the Bill provides that performance of functions by the caretaker government has been confined to day-to-day routine and non-controversial matters that are necessary to run the affairs of the government.
A caretaker government shall not take major policy decisions except on urgent matters. Political parties shall encourage women membership and award at least five percent party tickets to women candidates on general seats.
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