NA approves introducing election reforms bill in joint session

The deadlock between the government and opposition over electoral reforms persists as the former with a majority vote has passed a motion in the National Assembly to introduce the reforms bill in a joint session of parliament.

The government, under its electoral reforms package, plans to hold the next elections through electronic voting machines (EVM), give overseas Pakistanis the right to vote and conduct Senate elections on open ballots.

A motion has also been passed in the National Assembly pertaining to the ordinance, making it mandatory for the members of parliament to take oath within two months after the polls.

The National Assembly session on Wednesday was held under the chairmanship of NA Speaker Asad Qaiser. During the meeting, a motion was passed to present two amendment bills on election reforms in a joint session of parliament.

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As per the draft bills, forthcoming general elections will be held through EVMs, overseas Pakistanis will have the right to vote and Senate elections will be held on open ballots.

In addition, a presidential ordinance requiring the elected members of parliament to take oath within two months of the polls is also to be presented in the joint session.

The government referred a total of seven bills including the Electoral Reforms Bill, International Court of Justice Bill 2021, Anti-Rape Bill, Criminal Law Amendment Bill and Vocational and Technical Training Commission Amendment Bill for a joint session.

Protests, walkouts, objections on the quorum as well as other tactics of the opposition against referral of the electoral reforms bill to the joint session could not succeed.

The motions to forward the amendment bills to the joint session were moved by Adviser to PM on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan, Federal Law Minister Farogh Naseem and Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood.

Meanwhile, Syed Naveed Qamar of Pakistan Peoples Party opposed the motions, maintaining that there is a huge void between the government and the opposition at the moment and the latter has undertaken every effort to reach a reconciliation over the matter.

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He said that the voting machines have been used for the pilot project and declared ineffective, but the report of such exercise has not even been tabled in the assembly to date. He added that the opposition wants consensus on the issue.

On the other side, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Khawaja Asif said that what is being done today is an attempt to rig the next election, he said, questioning how the proposed EVMs will not be prone to attacks when the already working FBR system has encountered thousands of attacks.

He stated that the PML-N’s parliamentary committee had unanimously approved the reforms, but the way the government was trying to enforce the legislation was tantamount to bulldozing the parliament, adding that his party will oppose the reforms.

During the NA session, Law Minister Farogh Naseem questioned why overseas Pakistanis were denied the right to vote. He said that depriving those who contribute $29 billion to the national income through remittances would be an injustice.