- Meeting of the Chairmen of the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms.
- 73 reform proposals presented before it were examined in the meeting.
- Sadiq ruled out the possibility of banning any political party.
ISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms has expedited work on amending election laws by examining 73 reform proposals submitted before it. news informed of.
The panel has reportedly decided to finalize the recommendations by next week and get the Electoral Act reforms approved by both houses of parliament before the end of the National Assembly’s term, which Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said. This will happen in August.
A closed-door meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms was held under the chairmanship of its Chairman and Economic Affairs Minister Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.
The meeting was attended by members of the committee including Law Minister Azam Tarar, Dr. Fahmida Mirza, Commerce Minister Naveed Qamar, Senator Taj Haider, MNA Afzal Dhandla, Senator Manzoor Ahmed, Senator Kamran Mortaza and Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Sadiq ruled out the possibility of banning any political party, saying there was no proposal to ban any party as the task of the committee was to carry out electoral reforms.
“We will review the contentious issues on Thursday besides drafting agreed resolutions. The contentious issues which need further discussion will be examined on Monday.
Sadiq said that the proposals for electoral reforms were thoroughly discussed and effective proposals were discussed for transparent conduct of elections.
He said that many things were done during the tenure of former Chief Justice Saqib Nisar and the committee was trying to set right the controversial decisions related to elections.
Proposal
Sources said that the committee was suggested to give a specific time frame to the presiding officer to compile the results and call upon him in case of any delay in the process.
It was also suggested to compel the Presiding Officer to show cause for the delay in compilation of election results.
Besides this, it was proposed in the meeting that the Presiding Officer will send a photocopy of the signed result to the Returning Officer and it was also proposed to provide high-speed internet and smartphone to the Presiding Officer. It was also suggested to allow polling agents to carry camera phones.
The committee was also suggested installation of CCTV cameras at each polling booth to assist in election review, counting and compilation of results and provision of camera recording as evidence in case of complaints.
Further suggestions include raising the election expenditure limit for candidates to both national and provincial assemblies, allowing candidates to obtain video of any polling station by paying a fee, action against the presiding and reviewing officer under the criminal law on negligence to do is included. display the complete voter list outside each polling station, and allow security personnel posted outside the polling station to enter the polling station in case of emergency with the permission of the presiding officer.
As part of the proposal to increase election expenditure, it was suggested to spend Rs 4 million to Rs 10 million for NA seat election campaign and Rs 2 million to Rs 4 million for provincial assembly seat election campaign.
The meeting also discussed the jail term of 6 months to 3 years for election staff involved in rigging the elections.
Meanwhile, a proposal was also made in the meeting to decide the violation of the code of conduct in seven days instead of 15 days.
Another proposal was to upload the final list of polling staff on the ECP website so that candidates can challenge the appointment of polling staff in the constituency within 10 days.
