Amendment bill on specific seats approved by Senate and National Assembly

Election Act Amendment Bill 2024 on Tuesday National Assembly And it was approved by a majority vote in the Senate.

After the National Assembly, the Senate also approved the Election Act Amendment Bill on Tuesday.

Chairman Senate Yusuf Raza Gilani said during the proceedings of the meeting that he will give an opportunity to the members from both the opposition and government sides to present their views on the bill, but at the same time approved the bill and presented it.

When PTI Senator Ali Zafar tried to speak after the bill was passed, Farooq H. Naik objected and said that he cannot discuss the bill after it is passed. During Ali Zafar’s speech, the government members identified the quorum, after which the meeting was adjourned.

In the meeting chaired by Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in the National Assembly before approval in the Senate, Bilal Azhar Kayani, a member of the Muslim League-N and convener of the National Parliamentary Task Force, presented the Election Act Amendment Bill.

On the occasion of the presentation of the bill, the opposition raised slogans of ‘Nasanwar, Nasanwar’ and rioted.

What is in the amendment bill?

According to the draft amendment bill available to Independent Urdu, if a person does not declare his party affiliation before the returning officer before receiving the election symbol, he will be treated as an independent member and treated as a member of a political party. will not be done.

According to the bill, if a political party fails to provide the list of reserved seats within the stipulated time (three days), then it will not be eligible for the quota of reserved seats.

The bill states that once an independent member joins a political party, he cannot withdraw that decision and his affidavit cannot be revoked.

In the draft of this amendment bill, the government benches have given references to Article 51 and Article 106 of the Constitution of Pakistan, where constitutional and legal limits regarding specific seats have also been mentioned.

In the aims and objectives of the bill, it is stated that the procedure of allocation of seats in the National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies has been mentioned in Article 51 and 106. An independent candidate or candidates can join any political party within three days after the names of the winning candidates are published in the official gazette.

For all intents and purposes, the Election Act 2017 empowers winning candidates to join a political party of their choice. Neither the Constitution nor the Elections Act, 2017 provides for successful candidates to join a political party provided they have previously joined a political party.

What happened during the presentation of the bill?

As soon as the amendment bill was presented in the House during the National Assembly session, the opposition members started protesting. While on one side the members of the opposition parties started shouting slogans, on the other side they also surrounded the speaker dais.

A motion was presented by Bilal Azhar Kayani of Pakistan Muslim League-N to consider the Election Act Amendment Bill, which was approved by the House. During this time, the opposition continued to oppose the bill.

During the meeting, Ali Muhammad Khan of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf proposed an amendment to the amendment bill, which was opposed by Prime Minister Nazir Tarar.

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Member of Assembly Ali Muhammad Khan raised the question: ‘Is it the work of the Parliament to attack the Supreme Court to achieve political goals? You cannot deprive me of my legitimate right by passing legislation. We have got the right of reserved seats from the Supreme Court. How can we be deprived of this right?’

He added: ‘Is PTI halal for these 39 and haram for 41? We are protesting, we reject this bill. Legislate but it should be in the interest of Pakistan.’

Federal Law Minister Nazir Tarar while speaking in the assembly said that this legislation is in accordance with the spirit of the constitution. Ali Muhammad Khan said that this legislation is to block our way. He submitted an affidavit that we belong to the Sunni Ittehad Council.

Azam Nazir Tarar further said: ‘A party which has not participated in the election cannot be given seats. We are not going to amend any crime.’

PTI’s announcement to go to the Supreme Court against the Election Act

Ali Muhammad Khan said that the government is attacking the Supreme Court through this legislation, we will go to the Supreme Court against this law, the court will reject it.

To this statement, the Federal Law Minister replied that the legislation is in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution and it is the authority of the Parliament. 81 of them had submitted an affidavit stating that they belonged to the Sunni Ittehad Council and not to the PTI. Today they are reneging on their affidavits.

He added: ‘All the reasons are set out in the dissenting note of the two judges. PTI itself had demanded to give these seats to the Sunni Unity Council. The opposition should not distort the facts, we are clarifying the law.

Later, the National Assembly also rejected Ali Muhammad Khan’s amendment by majority vote.

After that, the process of clause-by-clause approval of the Election Act Amendment Bill continued and it was approved by majority vote.

Later, PML-N leader Bilal Azhar Kayani while talking to reporters outside the Parliament House said that the National Assembly has passed the amendment bill today, which contains three of the same clauses that are already included in the constitution, but we have removed them. Clarified to remove ambiguity.

According to him: ‘Under the new law, if a candidate does not submit a party certificate to the Parliament, he will be considered an independent candidate.’

The PML-N leader added that ‘certain seats will be given to the same party, which has contested the election.’

Similarly, according to Bilal Azhar Kayani: ‘Once a candidate joins a party, he cannot go back.’

After the approval of the Senate, the Bill will be sent to the President of Pakistan for his signature and thus the Election Act Amendment Bill will become a law.

The general opinion is that the Election Act Amendment Bill has been brought to stop or delay the implementation of the Supreme Court’s judgment on certain seats.

The Supreme Court on July 12, 2024 Majority decisions I asked PTI to give reserved seats and submit new lists to Election Commission.

However, after the amendments made by the Parliament to the Election Act, new lists cannot be submitted and the implementation of the Supreme Court’s decision after the Act is made may be difficult, as the two are in conflict with each other.