The parliamentary committee on Wednesday approved the Election Act Amendment Bill by a majority vote, despite opposition from PTI and abstention from JUI-F. PPP members were also not present at the meeting.
During the session chaired by Rana Iradat Sharif, the committee reviewed amendments to the Election Act 2017. Bilal Azhar Kayani provided a briefing on the bill.
The amendments seek to bar lawmakers, who contested the general elections as independent candidate, from changing their affiliation to a political party at a later stage. The panel passed the bill with the support of eight members, four members opposed it, and Shahida Akhtar, a Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F MNA, abstained from voting.
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said that the matter of independent members joining any political party and the issue of reserved seats is clear.
Ali Muhammad Khan from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf stated that this is a private member’s bill, and therefore, the law minister should not advocate for it.
The bill was tabled by Pakistan Muslim League-N lawmaker Bilal Azhar Kiyani on Tuesday and the amendments were proposed to the Section 66 and Section 104 of the Election Act, 2017.
