Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
A joint session of the Parliament on Wednesday passed amendments to the Election Act 2017, granting the caretaker government powers to take actions or decisions regarding existing bilateral or multilateral agreements and projects.
The bill titled “Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2023” was tabled in the joint session by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Murtaza Javed Abbasi which was approved with a majority vote.
The sub clauses 1 and 2 of Section 230 of the election act related to the functioning of caretaker government have been amended. Under the amendments, the interim setup will not have the authority to sign any new agreement and make decisions on bilateral and multilateral agreements. The caretaker government will be able to exercise powers on matters related to the ongoing projects, according to the amendments.
Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar told the joint session that the parliamentary committee on electoral reforms again held a meeting today and examined, specifically, Section 230 of the Election Act vis-à-vis the caretaker government. He said the objective of empowering
caretaker setup is to ensure that the ongoing commitments with multilateral and bilateral do not face hiatus as it negatively affects the economy.
The bill empowers the caretaker government to take actions or decisions regarding existing bilateral or multilateral agreements or the projects already initiated under the Public Private Partnership Authority Act, 2017, the inter-governmental commercial transactions Act 2022 and the Privatization Commission Ordinance 2000.
The law minister said that no new powers are being given to the caretaker government saying amendments in section 230 are aimed to ensure that the decisions already taken by the federal cabinet do not face any hurdles. The bill also envisages measures aimed at ensuring the timely compilation and announcement of election results.
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) successfully persuaded its allies in the Centre to approve the bill granting additional powers to the caretaker setup. Before the electoral reforms bill was laid in the house, PTI Senator Ali Zafar reiterated his demand that the house reject the said clause as it was unsustainable. “If you do not reject it, then the Supreme Court will reject it,” PTI’s Zafar told the parliament. The PTI leader said the “dilution” made to the bill was not enough as it was “unconstitutional and illegal”.
Under the new election law amendments bill, a candidate can nominate up to three polling agents at one polling station but one polling agent will be allowed inside the polling station at a time. The bill stated the presiding officer is bound to notify the voter list outside the polling station.
The joint session also approved an amendment for the transparency of postal balloting which stated that the ECP will upload the details of the postal ballot on the website before elections and if the winning or losing ratio is five percent then recounting of votes will take place.
The bill stated if the difference of votes is 8000 in the national assembly constituency and 4000 in provincial assembly then recounting will be held by presiding officer in the presence of the candidates.
