Lifelong disqualification comes to an end

Acting president signs Election Act (Amendment) Bill into law

ISLAMABAD:

 

The lifelong disqualification of a parliamentarian came to an end in the country on Monday, as Acting President Sadiq Sanjrani gave his assent to the Elections Act (Amendment) Bill, 2023 that set the period of disqualification to five years.

The National Assembly passed by the bill, after it sailed through the Senate earlier.

The bill was moved in the National Assembly by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar as a supplementary agenda and it was unanimously approved.

After the acting president’s signature, the immediate beneficiaries of the new law will be the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Quaid Nawaz Sharif and the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) leader Jahangir Tareen.

Nawaz, the three-time former prime minister, and Tareen, the then secretary general of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were disqualified for life from holding any public office by the Supreme Court months before the 2018 general elections.

The new law amended the Section 232 (Qualifications and Disqualifications) of the Election Act, 2017 to set the period of disqualification to five years. It said that disqualification period under Article 62 of the Constitution would not exceed five years.

“Disqualification of the lawmaker will be considered for five years where the tenure of the punishment is not specified in the Constitution,” it said. “The disqualification … will be considered for five years on the orders of the Supreme Court or high courts.”

ECP powers

The amendment act also empowered the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to set the election date without consulting the president and make modifications in the election schedule as it deemed necessary.

Read more: Acting President Sanjrani approves Finance Bill 2023-24

The amendment to the Section 57(1) of the Elections Act said that the ECP would announce the date or dates for the general elections by a notification in the official gazette and would call upon the constituencies to elect their representatives.

The amendment to Section 58 (1) said that after the issuance of notification, the ECP could make alterations in the elections programme at any time or may issue a fresh election programme with the fresh poll date(s).

Finance Bill

The acting president also approved the Finance Bill 2023-24 a day after its passage from the National Assembly.
The approved budget focuses on economic stability and sustainable and inclusive growth.

The new measures included Rs215 billion additional taxes through amendments to the original bill, which was presented on June 9.

The bill set a target of 3.5 per cent growth rate in gross domestic product (GDP).

A day before its passage, Finance Minister Dar announced fiscal adjustments worth Rs300 billion, including fiscal tightening measures as demanded by the International Monetary Fund.

The Finance Act, which would take effect from July 1, set the revenue collection target of the Federal Board of Revenue at Rs9,415 billion in the wake of Rs215 billion new taxes.

The house approved increases in the funds for the pensions of retired employees; the National Finance Commission Award for the provinces and the allocation for the Benazir Income Support Programme.