Constitutional Amendment Bill 2017 deviates from constitutional framework: FAFEN
Says seat allotment should wait till religious minorities are included in the count
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ISLAMABAD:
Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) – a non-governmental organisation that works on election related issues – believes that a constitutional delimitations amendment bill, tabled in the National Assembly (NA) earlier this month, deviates from basic framework of the constitution.
The proposed bill seeks a one-off exemption from carrying out fresh delimitation of constituencies on the basis of officially published census results.
A one-time provision is being sought to allow delimitation for the General Elections 2018 on the basis of the provisional results of the 6th Population and Housing Census 2017. These results have come under scrutiny from various national and regional parties for their accuracy.
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According to the Amendment Bill, 2017 introduced in the NA, the government is seeking to amend Clauses 3 and 5 of Article 51. The amendment being sought for Article 51 (5) will change the basic framework of the Constitution if it is passed.
The existing Article 51 (5) requires that “NA seats shall be allocated to each province, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Islamabad on the basis of population in accordance with the last preceding census officially published”. However, the proposed amendment exempts Fata from the allocation of general seats in proportion to their population.
Consequently, the re-allocation of seats, as evident from the proposed amendment to Article 51 (3), does not reflect the constitutional principle of parity by population. The amendment seeks to restrict Fata’s seats to 12 at the NA—which were allotted during then president Musharraf’s tenure—instead of allotting them at least 24 seats against population numbers.
If this constitutional amendment is passed, Punjab, Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa will lose three, two and one general seats respectively. In addition, seats reserved for women will also be allocated to Fata and Islamabad.
FAFEN, in its report, said such deviations from basic principles that bind the federation require extraordinary reasoning and justification. It would be more appropriate to reach a decision on the future of Fata and whether it will be merged with K-P or awarded the status of a separate province than to create deviations from the Constitution which over represent a region.
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Alternatively, specific amendments may be made in the Constitution to allot additional seats to all under-developed areas in the country. All territories mentioned in Article 1 (2) of the Constitution need to be treated equally and proportionately.
Moreover, the constitutional amendment bill does not address the number of reserved seats to be reallocated to religious minorities in line with their share in the population.
While PBS is required to make the population for religious minorities public, FAFEN urged parliamentary parties to proceed with the bill only after this omission is deliberated upon and the representation of religious minorities is actually considered.
Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) – a non-governmental organisation that works on election related issues – believes that a constitutional delimitations amendment bill, tabled in the National Assembly (NA) earlier this month, deviates from basic framework of the constitution.
The proposed bill seeks a one-off exemption from carrying out fresh delimitation of constituencies on the basis of officially published census results.
A one-time provision is being sought to allow delimitation for the General Elections 2018 on the basis of the provisional results of the 6th Population and Housing Census 2017. These results have come under scrutiny from various national and regional parties for their accuracy.
Centre wins over provinces on crucial vote
According to the Amendment Bill, 2017 introduced in the NA, the government is seeking to amend Clauses 3 and 5 of Article 51. The amendment being sought for Article 51 (5) will change the basic framework of the Constitution if it is passed.
The existing Article 51 (5) requires that “NA seats shall be allocated to each province, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Islamabad on the basis of population in accordance with the last preceding census officially published”. However, the proposed amendment exempts Fata from the allocation of general seats in proportion to their population.
Consequently, the re-allocation of seats, as evident from the proposed amendment to Article 51 (3), does not reflect the constitutional principle of parity by population. The amendment seeks to restrict Fata’s seats to 12 at the NA—which were allotted during then president Musharraf’s tenure—instead of allotting them at least 24 seats against population numbers.
If this constitutional amendment is passed, Punjab, Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa will lose three, two and one general seats respectively. In addition, seats reserved for women will also be allocated to Fata and Islamabad.
FAFEN, in its report, said such deviations from basic principles that bind the federation require extraordinary reasoning and justification. It would be more appropriate to reach a decision on the future of Fata and whether it will be merged with K-P or awarded the status of a separate province than to create deviations from the Constitution which over represent a region.
Delimitation bill: Abbasi tasked with wooing opposition
Alternatively, specific amendments may be made in the Constitution to allot additional seats to all under-developed areas in the country. All territories mentioned in Article 1 (2) of the Constitution need to be treated equally and proportionately.
Moreover, the constitutional amendment bill does not address the number of reserved seats to be reallocated to religious minorities in line with their share in the population.
While PBS is required to make the population for religious minorities public, FAFEN urged parliamentary parties to proceed with the bill only after this omission is deliberated upon and the representation of religious minorities is actually considered.