Mere hours after it was passed by the National Assembly, the Senate on Tuesday also approved the controversial Elections (Second Amendment) Bill, 2024, paving the way for it to become law after the approval of President Asif Ali Zardari.
Tabled by Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) Senator Talal Chaudhry, the amendment bill was passed despite strong opposition from senators of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The new legislation is widely seen as a means to circumvent a Supreme Court ruling on reserved seats for women and minorities. On July 12, a majority verdict of a full court bench of the apex court declared the PTI eligible for reserved seats, while denying the plea of the Sunni Ittehad Council, effectively depriving the ruling coalition of a two-thirds majority.
Addressing the Senate ahead of the vote, PTI Senator Shibli Faraz slammed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), deriding it as the “selection” commission. “The Election Commission declared our [PTI] intra-party polls null and void and stripped us of our electoral symbol. We were assigned absurd election symbols, such as a shoe, which landed on their [government’s] head,” he said.
Alleging the bill was tabled in bad faith to prevent the implementation of the Supreme Court’s verdict, he claimed it was a “direct” attack on the judiciary and stressed the PTI opposed it as it sought to deny its due mandate.
Defending the legislation, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said the bill sought to clarify legal interpretations in light of the Supreme Court verdict. “The authority to make laws rests solely with Parliament and this power would not be delegated to a group of 17 individuals, as Parliament was determined to exercise its authority,” he said. “The bill was introduced to provide needed clarification and enhance the electoral process,” he added.
Emphasizing Parliament’s right to amend laws, he said it could not be exercised by any other institution. There is a clear distinction between interpreting and rewriting the Constitution, he added.
Earlier, the legislation was approved by the National Assembly after being tabled by PMLN MNA Bilal Azhar Kiyani. Eight members of a parliamentary panel, with four in opposition and one abstaining from voting, subsequently approved it.
The legislation provisions retrospective effect and will apply from the commencement of the Elections Act 2017.
Once it comes into effect, the law would effectively bar individuals who contested general election as independent candidates from changing their affidavit and declaring affiliation with any political party once three days had elapsed since their notification as returned candidates. It is being widely perceived as a means for the government to circumvent the PTI’s return to Parliament following a Supreme Court ruling that had declared the party eligible for reserved seats despite it not being a respondent in the case.
Under the bill, which comes into effect retrospectively from 2017, a candidate that does not submit a party affiliation certificate when seeking allotment of an election symbol shall be deemed to be an independent candidate. Similarly, it inserts a provision into the Elections Act, 2017, declaring that the consent or affidavit of an independent candidate regarding joining a political party becomes “irrevocable” and prohibits its withdrawal and substitution to another party.
Additionally, another amendment states that if a political party fails to submit its list for reserved seats within the prescribed time period, it would not be eligible for reserved seats at any later stage.