ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Thursday passed the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2022, reversing a law which allowed electronic vote counting and enabled Pakistan nationals living abroad to cast their ballot online.
The bill was presented by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Javed Abbasi of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and adopted with a majority vote, with only members of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) — a former coalition partner of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) — opposing it.
The laws were introduced in November last year with the intent to ensure transparency in elections. Pakistan has a history of parties alleging vote-rigging after every election. But furious opposition at the time, now in the government, said it was pushed through to rig the next election.
“I believe that this is the blackest day of our parliamentary history. We condemn it,” then-National Assembly opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif, now prime minister, said.
Before presenting the bill, Abbasi presented a motion for allowing the bill to be sent directly to the Senate for its approval, bypassing the relevant standing committee. The motion was also passed by the House with a majority vote.
The bill is expected to be sent to the Senate Friday.
National Assembly proceeding in progress.#NASession #NAatWork @RPAPPP @ZahidDuraniMNA @CMShehbaz @SyedAghaPPP pic.twitter.com/6OL5C2iVlM
— National Assembly of Pakistan🇵🇰 (@NAofPakistan) May 26, 2022
Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar dismissed the impression that the amendment is aimed at depriving overseas Pakistanis of their right to vote.
He said Pakistanis living abroad are a precious asset of the country and the government does not believe in snatching their right to vote.
Commenting on disallowing the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs), the minister insisted his PML-N party was not against the use of technology in polls, “but we have concerns about its misuse”.
During the 2018 elections, the “Results Transmission System (RTS) mysteriously stopped working at night to favour a certain political party”.
Tarar said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) also expressed its inability to hold elections through i-voting and machines in a short span of time and without sufficient homework.
He said two amendments are being introduced to revive the Elections Act, 2017, enabling the commission to ensure free, fair, and transparent elections.
Under the amendment in Section 94 of the act, the commission may conduct pilot projects for voting by overseas Pakistanis in by-elections to ascertain the technical efficacy, secrecy, security, and financial feasibility of such voting and shall share the results with the government, which shall, in turn, within 15 days from the commencement of a session after the receipt of the report, lay the same before both Houses of the Parliament.
Under amendment in Section 103 of the Election Act, 2017, the ECP may conduct pilot projects for the utilisation of voting machines and biometric verification systems in the by-elections.
National Assembly Opposition Leader Raja Riaz Ahmad has insisted the Parliament must complete its tenure and elections be held only after its expiry.
Responding to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, he assured the opposition will play its positive and constructive role in running affairs of the House.
Earlier, Sharif, while speaking on the floor of the House, congratulated Ahmad, a defecting member of the PTI, on assuming the office.
He assured Ahmad of his government’s full cooperation in running the affairs of the House in an amicable manner.
Sharif said the treasury will pay utmost attention to Ahmad’s speeches by burying the adverse traditions of the past.
Responding to a call attention notice, Minister of State for Interior Abdul Rehman Kanju assured the House to make every possible effort for the maintenance of government accommodations in sectors G-6 and F-6 of Islamabad.
