The farewell session of the National Assembly is being called in a few days, which will continue until the dissolution of the lower house of the parliament.
Several important recommendations regarding electoral reforms, which were forwarded to the federal government by the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan through the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs last month, have been thoroughly discussed and finalized through discussions on all recommendations and amendments in both houses of Parliament. It will be presented to the National Assembly by the end of this month in the form of a bill.
Under the supervision of Federal Minister Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, the special parliamentary committee has instructed the Ministry of Law and Justice and the Parliamentary Affairs Secretariat to immediately retrieve all old recommendations in relation to electoral reforms and provide them to the Electoral Reforms Committee.
In the previous government, without the confidence of the Election Commission, 28 such amendments were presented to the National Assembly in the form of a bill, which the Election Commission of Pakistan deemed impracticable and rejected constitutionally, as many of these amendments were in conflict with Article 219 of the Constitution and granted rare powers to NADRA for voter registration.
Now, preparations of the government are underway to present the bill on electoral reforms in the next session of the National Assembly in the form of new amendments, and the government’s clear position is that electoral reforms will not cause a delay in the general elections.
However, it is not yet clear under what population census the upcoming elections will be conducted. As of now, the 2014 census is the applicable one, and there is no legal status for the approval of the 2023 census. If a new census is granted legal status before the elections, a change in the election date would become inevitable.
In the light of the recommendations on electoral reforms, it will be possible to enact legislation on electoral laws through the opinions of all parliamentary political parties, members of the National Assembly, and Senate, and efforts are underway to prepare the desired document in collaboration with all factions. It is expected that the National Assembly will obtain approval from both houses by August 7th based on the recommendations of the parliamentary committee, and after the approval of both houses, the legislation can be completed with the approval of the President.
If the President apologizes for granting approval on the disputed bill and sends it back to the assembly without signing it, the bill will not have the authority to become law, after the completion of its constitutional tenure on August 17th.
Considering the statements of government officials, events, and the strong determination and preparations of the Election Commission, it can be concluded that general elections will not be delayed and will be held within their designated timeframe.
Furthermore, the indications from media and other sources suggesting manipulation of the election schedule and extension of the National Assembly’s term are not based on reality.
On April 4th, the Supreme Court had declared the Election Commission’s decision of March 22nd as void, which attempted to curtail the powers of the Election Commission. In response, the Election Commission filed a review petition in the Supreme Court on May 2nd challenging the decision.
The Election Commission is moving towards making significant decisions regarding the contempt of the Election Commission case, the foreign funding case, and the prohibited funding case.
