ISLAMABAD: Minister of Law and Justice Zahid Hamid on Friday said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had been made completely autonomous. He was addressing a press conference at the National Assembly after the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms adopted the Elections Bill 2017. “We also want the participation of Overseas Pakistanis in the elections. ECP officials will also take an oath for conducting fair elections,” he said. He said that the committee had achieved the milestone after an exhaustive work of two and a half years. “We received 123 proposals from the civil society, lawyers and the general public. These proposals were considered and re-circulated. Then, again we received 631 proposals and considered them as well,” he said. “Overseas Pakistanis have a right to vote. Mock exercises have been arranged for conducting voting through Pakistan’s missions abroad to check technical issues. Under the Electoral Reforms Bill 2017, sensitive polling stations will have surveillance cameras. Now a uniform nomination form will be used for Senate and the National Assembly except few specific details,” he said. “There shall also be a uniform formula for number of ballot papers for every polling station. The results will be signed by ECP officials and the presiding officers. Fee for registering new political parties has been increased. The caretaker government will decide day-to-day matters and non-controversial issues. The caretaker government will also submit there financial and tax statements. International observer will also be invited,” Hamid said. The bill envisages merging eight existing laws relating to elections. The bill will now be tabled in the Parliament. The laws which the bill seeks to merge in a single piece of legislation include Electoral Rolls Act 1974, Delimitation of Constituencies Act 1974, Senate Election Act 1975; Representation of the People Act 1976,Election Commission Order 2002, Conduct of General Elections Order 2002, Political Parties Order 2002 and Allocation of Symbols Order 2002. The ECP will prepare a comprehensive action plan six months before the elections specifying all legal and administrative measures for the conduct of elections. Published in Daily Times, July 22nd , 2017.