Daily Times

The joint sitting of the Parliament on Wednesday passed the Elections (Second Amendment) Bill, 2021, granting right of vote to overseas Pakistanis besides allowing use of electronic voting machines in the elections.

Advisor the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Zaheer-un-Din Babar Awan piloted the bill in the House and the motion to consider the bill was passed with majority vote. A total of 221 lawmakers voted in favor of the motion while 203 lawmakers opposed it. Later, the Parliament passed the legislative proposal which pertains to fair, free and transparent election through utilization of technology and modern gadgets. The bill is also aimed at granting voting rights to the overseas Pakistanis which may only be possible by vesting exclusive authority in ECP with technical assistance of NADRA and other agencies. It also asks to procure electronic voting machines (EVMs) for casting of votes in general elections. Amendments were sought in section 94 and 103 of the Election Act, 2017 to achieve the aforesaid objectives.

The joint sitting passed the amendments moved by Advisor to Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan while the amendments moved by MNA Mohsin Dawar, Senator Taj Haider and Senator Mushtaq Ahmed were rejected by the House.

Ahsan Iqbal of PML-N raised a point that as per Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) judgment, a non-elected member of the House can’t move any legislation. He termed the House proceedings as illegal on the basis of the court ruling. The speaker, however, read some clauses of the constitution declaring the legislation proposal by an advisor in accordance with the constitution.

The joint sitting also passed the International Court of Justice (Review and Reconsideration) bill, 2021. Moved by Law Minister Farogh Naseem, the bill provides for the right of review and reconsideration in the matter of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav to give legal effect to the judgment of the International Court of Justice.

Other bills that were passed by the joint sitting included, “The Islamabad Capital Territory Charities Registration, Regulation and Facilitation Bill, 2021”; “The SBP Banking Services Corporation Amendment Bill; The National College of Arts Institute Bill; The Muslim Family Laws Amendment (Amendments in Section 4 & 7), bill; The Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Bill, 2021; Hyderabad Institute for Technical and Management Sciences Bill; Islamabad Rent Restriction Amendment Bill; The Criminal Law Amendment Bill; The Corporate Restructuring Companies Amendment bill; The Financial Institutions Secured Transactions Amendment bill; `the Federal Public Service Commission (Validation of Rules) Bill; The University of Islamabad Bill; The Loans for Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Purposes Amendment Bill; The Companies Amendment Bill; The National Vocational and Technical Training Commission Amendment Bill; Pakistan Academy of Letters Amendment Bill; The Port Qasim Authority Amendment Bill; Pakistan National Shipping Corporation Amendment Bill; Gwadar Port Authority Amendment Bill; The Maritime Security Agency Amendment Bill; The Emigration Amendment Bill and The Privatization Commission Amendment Bill.

The Joint sitting also passed “The Covid-19 (Prevention of Hoarding) Bill 2021”, “The Al-Karam International Institute Bill, 2021”,”The Islamabad Capital Territory Authority Food Safety Bill 2021, “The Unani, Ayurvedic And Homoeopathic Practitioners Act”, “The Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill” and “The Provincial Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill”, “The Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power (Amendment) Bill, 2021.”

During the course of proceedings, the lawmakers from the opposition benches protested after NA Speaker Asad Qaiser allowed the government to proceed with the legislative process. Senator Sherry Rehman of PPP slammed the Speaker for bulldozing the process, saying today is the black day in the Parliament’s history.

Addressing Speaker Asad Qaiser, PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto started his speech by requesting him to “respect his own chair”, “respect his own position” and “respect the House”. He reminded the speaker that he is the custodian of the National Assembly of Pakistan and had agreed in writing with the opposition that whatever legislation is brought in will be done with consensus, adding that he said that a united opposition was standing before the House. “If we were all legislating together, the next election would have been transparent,” Bilawal warned.

Speaking about the EVM, he said even the Election Commission of Pakistan has rejected it, adding that ECP had raised 37 serious objections over the machine. He said the government is making the next election controversial and gave an ultimatum that they will not accept the next election if the bill for EVMs is passed.

Bilawal said they will stand by the ECP. “As long as the ECP has reservations, we have reservations,” Bilawal said. He concluded his brief speech with a repetition of his request to the speaker to “please, respect your chair and position”.

Later, the opposition staged a walkout from the joint session of parliament as amendments to the Election Act, 2017, were passed. There was a hue and cry and a scuffle broke out. Treasury members banged their desks triumphantly as the results of the voting were announced.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the government wants to introduce a credible and transparent system for elections through legislation. He recalled that their electoral reforms are aimed at protecting the election process from being stolen. He asked the opposition parties to also vote in favor of the relevant bills.

The foreign minister pointed out that questions have always been raised on the elections held after 1970. He said time has come to set the direction right and ensure the transparency and credibility of the electoral process.

Qureshi said the government, on its part, time and again approached the opposition parties on electoral reforms. He said we repeatedly tried to give demonstrations to the opposition parties on Electronic Voting Machines. He said the aim of introducing EVMs is to bury the evil design and vicious mindset of imposing the governments.