The Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms is considering to give right to vote to overseas Pakistanis having National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP). PTI MNA Dr Arif Alvi floated the idea of giving voting right to overseas Pakistanis and members of the sub-committee of the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms endorsed it.
The subcommittee met here on Tuesday in the chair of Zahid Hamid to finalise recommendations on electoral reforms for general election 2018.
The committee supported the proposal of Dr Arif Alvi for registration of NICOP holders for voting purpose. The Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms is likely to submit its recommendations before the parliament on Jan 31.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) briefed the committee regarding progress of procurement of biometric voter identification (BVI) and electronic voting machines (EVMs).
It was informed that the ECP is taking technical evaluation of BVI while physical inspection of the performance of EVMs would be held in the upcoming meeting of the committee scheduled to be held next week.
The committee also discussed the Committee of the Whole report on mode of elections of the Senate members. The committee reviewed recommendations sent by political parties regarding the procedure for Senate elections. Political parties showing distrust on the Senate elections have recommended a number of amendments.
The committee also considered observations of ECP on draft Unified Election Act 2016. The draft of the Unified Election Act and the Unified Election Rules are in the final stages of preparation in consultation with the members of different political parties.
As per proposals sent by the ECP to the parliamentary committee formed in Aug 2014 after a ruling of the Supreme Court, in some Middle Eastern (ME) countries where a majority of overseas Pakistanis works, democracy, elections and voting are largely strange concepts so setting up of polling stations in ME countries for Pakistanis is a difficult task.
The ECP has requested the Foreign Office to check with the governments of ME countries if they allow setting up polling stations for the Pakistani community, but the Foreign Office has not responded yet, it hints that this would not be possible.
Use of postal ballots is also being considered as an option in countries such as the United States. Given the size of the Pakistani community abroad, this option was also considered unworkable.
In Pakistan's context, the authorities were unsure if this method could escape misuse of vote.
Electronic voting through using internet was another option that was discussed, but rejected for a number of reasons. Many Pakistanis living abroad are not computer literate, especially in the ME. Chances of misuse of technology could not be ruled out.
Another option initially considered by the ECP was allocating a few reserved seats for overseas Pakistan in the Parliament on the pattern of seats in the Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly where members of assembly elect a representative outside the country. But this option too would not enable overseas Pakistanis to vote in a direct manner.
PPPP's Naveed Qamar told Business Recorder that in the upcoming meetings the committee would finalise all the recommendations for their submission to the Parliament to transform them in the form of a law to ensure free, fair and transparent elections.