Election reforms bill sails through NA

Govt also expresses intention to amend Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Tuesday passed the much-awaited and extensively discussed Election Bill 2017 – commonly known electoral reforms bill – which envisages wide-ranging reforms to conduct free and fair election by unifying eight different election laws.

These eight election laws shall stand repealed after the bill is enacted.

The government on Tuesday also expressed its intention to amend Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution. These were the same constitutional provisions which resulted in the disqualification prime minister Nawaz Sharif on July 28.



Earlier, Iqbal Qadri on behalf of Shaikh Salahuddin of the MQM moved an amendment to Election Bill’s clause 231 seeking that disqualification of an MNA or MPA should not exceed five years.

Minister for Law Zahid Hamid requested the member to withdraw the amendment, saying that the matter had been taken up in the main committee which drafted the electrical reforms bill. Later, the proposed amendment was withdrawn.

The house adopted more than 40 amendments – moved by Hamid – including those introduced by some opposition members. The NA had received around 150 proposed amendments by political parties.

The reforms, proposed in the bill, provide financial and administrative autonomy to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which has been made fully independent and autonomous. Under the bill, the ECP would prepare an action plan six months before the elections.



Under the bill, every citizen having a Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) will automatically become a voter. The ECP will delimit constituencies after every census. As far as practicable, distance between a polling station and the voters assigned to it would be reduced to one kilometer.

Nomination form has been simplified and the same form has been prescribed for candidates for all seats. Printing of ballot papers will be based on formula in which number of ballot papers per polling station shall be equal to the number of voters at the polling station, rounded off to the nearest hundred.

Enabling provisions have been made for the ECP to conduct pilot project for utilisation of Electronic Voting Machines and Biometric Verification and voting by Overseas Pakistanis.

Maximum limit of election expenses has been rationalised. New limits for expenses are Rs1.5 million for election to a seat of Senate; Rs4 million for a National Assembly seat and Rs2 million for a provincial assembly seat.  Wealth statement to be filed by members will be in the same form as is submitted under the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.

Immediately after passing of the bill, the PTI staged a walkout from the house to register its protest for not incorporating four of its demands or reforms into the newly adopted bill.

Earlier, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah lashed out at government for absence of a majority of lawmakers from the lower house. As many as 48 (14%) lawmakers were present at the start of the session but only 26 (8%) were present by the time the house was adjourned.



Shah said he was ashamed to see such a low level of attendance, when the lawmakers were expected to discuss the Electoral Reforms Bill 2017. The chief whip of PML-N, Sheikh Aftab Ahmed, issued directives to bring the backbenchers to the front.

On another point of order, Shah demanded of the government to give its clear stance on the newly-announced US strategy with regard to Pakistan. He said 220 million people of Pakistan were still facing the fallout of General Zia’s policy.

“The government should have reacted strongly to the newly-announced US policy,” he added.

The PML-N’s Abdul Qadir Baloch had assured the house that Pakistan would respond to the policy by Tuesday evening. The session was later prorogued for an indefinite period.