Senate of Pakistan passes ‘The Elections (Second Amendment) Bill, 2024’

ISLAMABAD, August 06 (SABAH): The Senate of Pakistan on Tuesday passed “The Elections (Second Amendment) Bill, 2024.”

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Senator Muhammad Talal Chaudhry presented the amendment bill in the upper house of parliament amid strong opposition from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senators.

According to the statement of Objects and Reasons of the bill, Articles 51 and 106 of the Constitution provide for allocation of seats to the National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies respectively along with mechanism for the elections thereto and include that the independent returned candidate or candidates may duly join a political party within three days of the publication in the official Gazette of the names of the returned candidates. The Elections Act, 2017 and, rules made there under also provide for the right to independent returned candidate or candidates to duly join a political party at his consent.

Neither the Constitution nor the Elections Act, 20l7 provide for joining a political party by an independent returned candidate or candidates at subsequent stage when they have already exercised the option to join the political party at a point of time as specified in the Constitution.

To provide clarity in the 1aw in true spirit of the Constitution this bill has been designed to expressly provide for that no independent candidate or candidates shall exercise his or their right to join a political party at a subsequent stage after the period specified for the purpose in the Constitution and the 1aw.

Taking the floor, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said legislation is the sole prerogative of the Parliament. He said the bill is in accordance with the spirit of the constitution.

Opposition Leader Syed Shibli Faraz termed it a “direct attack” on the Supreme Court and its verdict in the reserved seats case.

The House has now been adjourned to meet again on Friday at 10:30 AM.

Earlier after the passage of the bill from the National Assembly while talking to media persons outside the Parliament, the mover of the bill PML-N MNA Bilal Azhar Kiyani expressed the hope that the Senate would also pass the bill. He said the legislation “further clarified and strengthened” already existing laws.

Detailing “three main” changes made in the Elections Act, he said a party that did not submit its list of candidates for reserved seats within the specified period would not be eligible for reserved seats after the elections.

Kiyani asserted that “no one could point out anything in the bill that was practically wrong or in conflict with the Constitution and the law”.

He added that the majority judgment in the case of the reserved seat was in his opinion “not in harmony with the Constitution”.

The PML-N MNA said he agreed with the minority judgment in the case, arguing that the PTI was not even a party in the case whereas the Sunni Ittehad Council was the petitioner yet was “not given any relief”.

Reading out the minority judgment, Kiyani claimed it said that “a new parliamentary party, which did not exist, had been created through the majority judgment”.