Electoral reforms: Treasury, opposition agree to form special committee

ISLAMABAD: Treasury and opposition representatives agreed to constitute a special committee comprising members from both houses of the Parliament to discuss and decide on The Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2021, and The Elections (Second Amendment) Bill, 2021 for electoral reforms for the coming general election.

Parliamentary representatives from the treasury and the opposition met National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser in the Parliament House on Tuesday. Matters related to electoral reforms came under discussion. It was agreed that a committee comprising members from both the houses would be constituted to work on various issues related to electoral reforms.

The government on Friday had placed The Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and The Elections (Second Amendment) Bill, 2021 in agenda items to refer them to the joint-sitting in the Parliament for passage. But the opposition strongly opposed this legislation.

The government wants legislation for holding of the coming general election 2023 through electronic voting machine (EVM). However, the opposition parties are strongly opposing the EVM. In the meeting, it was agreed that a committee comprising members from both the houses would be constituted to work on various issues related to electoral reforms.

It was also decided in the meeting that motions would be moved in both the houses of the Parliament for constitution of the committee. It was also decided that the speaker National Assembly would be authorised to nominate members of the electoral reforms committee in consultation with parliamentary leaders.

The parliamentarians, who met speaker National Assembly included federal ministers, Pervaiz Khattak, Shafqat Mehmood, MNAs Shahida Akthar Ali, Syed Naveed Qamar, Rana Tanvir Hussain, and Murtaza Javed Abassi.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021