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| 'Confused' MPs and Legislature Law Minister's assurances: What amendments have been made to the Election Act and what were the criticisms? |
International organizations are concerned that there is going to be a big investment in Pakistan in September. The World Bank is asking who will sign the big deals? Given these issues, it is very important to strengthen the caretaker government.
Ayaz Sadiq, a senior leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and a member of the National Assembly, put this point before the parliament with great satisfaction.
He was addressing a joint session of Parliament on Wednesday regarding the amendment of the Election Act. In this joint session, some amendments to the Election Act, 2017 have been passed by a majority vote and the new proposed law has been named as the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2023.
One thing that was very clear during Wednesday's session was that many MPs appeared to be confused about what the controversial new amendment to empower the caretaker government actually was. I also did this during my speeches.
When the process of clause-by-clause approval of the proposed bill was going on, the Minister of Law and Justice Azam Nazir Tarar tried to move forward several times by quickly reading a few amendments, but the senators of Jamaat-e-Islami stood in the way of this 'fast pace' and he The law minister continued to request clarification.
However, shortly after the session began and after the opening speeches of the members, it became clear that the main bone of contention between the ruling Muslim League ally and the opposition parties is over the proposed amendments to Section 230 of the Election Act.
Section 230 defines the powers of the caretaker government and states what kind of decisions the caretaker government can take and what decisions it is not empowered to take. And now the PML-N government wants to give additional authority to the caretaker government through some amendments, which is justified by the fact that in September Pakistan has to fulfill some international agreements, including privatization, public-private partnership, and other countries. Includes contracts with
The main objection raised to Section 230 was that according to the law, the function of the caretaker government was merely to run the day-to-day affairs until a newly elected government came in and to bring the caretaker government on par with an elected government by giving it additional powers. It is tantamount to the 'assassination of the Constitution'.
Many members also expressed concern in their speeches that the amendment to empower the caretaker government was "actually meant to please the IMF."
During the process of approving the bill, at one point, a few members of parliament got up and started going out, on which Prime Minister Nazir Tarar had to stop the process of reading the bill and he said, "Mr. Speaker if it will happen like this, it will the proceedings can't go ahead.'But the members who were walking out, who were understood to be walking out, actually told me that the proceedings had ended and the bill had been passed, while now in section 54 of the Election Act. Only 28 verses were recited.
So many powers have never been given to an elected government.
During the joint meeting, various senators and members of the assembly expressed reservations. Senator Raza Rabbani said that these kinds of powers were never given to the elected government, so how are they being given to the caretaker government. Authority is being given to a government that will hold the government for only 60 or 90 days.
Barrister Ali Zafar suggested that the date of the September agreements should be brought forward or the amendments should be relaxed. Otherwise, the Supreme Court will blow up these controversial amendments in ten days.
But despite all the objections, Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervez Ashraf said that 'the house is in order' after which no dissenting note came from any side. While in the press gallery, the question kept being asked that 'The house is in order, but is the quorum complete?' and obviously the answer to this also appeared after some time. And in about an hour, the bill was passed by a majority vote.
What else is in the bill?
Under Section 230 of the Election Act, the Caretaker Government will have additional powers. The proposed amendment further stipulated that the caretaker government would be able to exercise powers relating to already ongoing programs and projects and take important policy decisions.
According to the other amendments made in the Election Act, the presiding officer will be obliged to send the election results to the Election Commission and the Returning Officer by 2:00 PM after the polling is over on the day of the election, and failing that, a valid reason for the delay. shall be obliged to inform in writing.
According to the amendment bill, the new constituencies will be done in proportion to the population.
According to the bill, the polling station will not be changed five days before the polling day, while the candidates will be able to spend up to 1 crore for the National Assembly seat and up to 40 lakhs for the election campaign for the provincial seat.
A few other amendments of the same nature have been passed in the bill which were agreed upon by all the parties.
'There is no new change'
Federal Law Minister Nazir Tarar told the House during the clause-by-clause approval of the Bill that no new changes are being made to the Electoral Reforms Bill.
He said that only the caretaker government is asking for permission to work on the contracts that have been decided by the federal government. He said that the agreements with international organizations of Pakistan are being tried not to be damaged.
The House has been repeatedly assured by the Law Minister that whatever amendments there are at present, the members are one hundred percent agreement.