Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Committee for Parliamentary Affairs while criticising the performance of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday recommended making it independent, impartial and financially stable.

A meeting of the committee was held with its chairman Mian Abdul Manan in the chair at the Parliament House. The committee members expressed reservations over the condition of the ECP saying that it did not have the staff to hold elections and got help from the judiciary and the administration.

According to the members the committee did not have its offices and a budget which is why free and fair elections were impossible in the country.

The Chairman of the Committee Abdul Manan said that he lost his seat in 2008 elections by 1000 votes and he was advised to contact the Election Tribunal when he approached ECP for recounting.

After the passage of three years, he was asked to approach the Supreme Court which he refused. He said recounting was quite difficult in 2008 but the process was made quite easy after the 2013 elections and candidates recounted their votes in many constituencies.

A member of the Committee Saman Sultana Jaffery said that the elections of Mayor and Deputy Mayor were not conducted in Punjab and Sindh despite the passage of eight months. She said it was the ineligibility of the ECP which is why the common man was facing difficulties.

The Deputy Secretary ECP Fida Muhammad informed the committee that recommendations to make the commission powerful were ready and would be presented in the next meeting.

He said the schedule for the election of reserved seats was announced after the local government elections but Punjab and Sindh raised objections over it and demanded an election after necessary legislation.

The chief of the Election Commission had sent a notice to Punjab in this regard but to no avail. He further said that retirements of four members of the ECP were made constitutional that halted the electoral process. He was of the opinion that the members of the ECP should have been appointed before retirement.

The committee has asked the ECP to present recommendations to make the commission powerful in the next meeting along with a notice dispatched to Punjab by the CEC. While briefing the committee about salaries and privileges, the additional secretary said that the approval was given after the 18th Amendment to appoint retired high court judges from four provinces. However, no decision was made regarding their salaries and privileges.

The Secretary ECP then wrote a letter to the Prime Minister’s House apart from requesting the parliament to give its approval in the form of a legislative bill. However, it couldn’t be presented before the parliament due to the end of its term.

The additional secretary informed the committee that the bill was resent to the parliament after the 2013 elections for approval but it was not approved for some reasons.

He further said that during these four members were being paid on interim basis.

He said that it was not clarified in the 22th Constitutional Amendment how newly appointed members hailing from different walks of life apart from the judiciary will be given salaries and benefits.

An official of the ministry of law informed the committee that the method giving salaries and benefits to the newly appointed members of the Election Commission had been finalised. The committee had approved the bill regarding salaries and benefits of the Election Commission’s members unanimously.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Islamabad Mir Wais Niaz while briefing on the security situation of the Parliament Lodges revealed that Closed-circuit Televisions (CCTVs) installed at the Parliament Lodges were out of order adding that they asked the CDA to change the locks of the Lodges’rooms after the parliament’s term ended.

He informed the committee that the CDA did not consult Islamabad Police on the issue of construction of a new gate at the Parliament House.

The chairman committee directed to install CCTV cameras in corridors, all floors and balconies of the Parliament Lodges.