ISLAMABAD: After completing a review of laws, a sub-committee of the parliamentary body on electoral reforms is now set to take up constitutional provisions related to elections.

The most important provisions, which the committee headed by former minister Zahid Hamid will be taking up in the meetings, are articles dealing with the qualification and disqualification of candidates and the process of the appointment of chief election commissioner (CEC).

Talking to Dawn the other day, Mr Hamid said committee members had decided to review the constitutional provisions earlier this month, but could not do so because of various reasons.

One of the reasons, he said, was that the members wanted some more time to seek guidance from their party leadership before beginning this important task.

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Mr Hamid said the committee had already completed a review of the election-related laws and that officials of the law ministry and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) were simultaneously preparing drafts based on the committee’s recommendations. These drafts, he said, would soon come back to his committee for approval before they were presented before the main committee, headed by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

Answering a question, Mr Hamid said the committee was doing its work at a satisfactory pace and it would be wrong to say that its pace was sluggish.

The good thing about the committee’s working was that so far all work had been done consensually and that when the committee would come out with its final report, it would be agreed upon by all parties and its implementation would be a smooth affair.

Mr Hamid said the issues of qualification and disqualification of candidates and the process for the appointment of chief election commissioner and other members of the ECP were very crucial aspects and needed thorough discussion.

The minister refused to give a timeframe for the completion of the committee’s work, but said it was “near completion”.

Talking to Dawn, committee member and PTI MNA Dr Arif Alvi said his party had completed its homework regarding the review of the constitutional provisions related to the elections.

Dr Alvi said his party wanted “further explanation” of the conditions given in Articles 62 and 63 of the constitution dealing with qualification and disqualification of candidates.

“Under the Constitution, a person should be sagacious, righteous and honest to become eligible to contest the elections. But what is the scale to measure all these qualities,” he asked, adding that his party did not want to make any amendments, but wanted an “elaboration” of Articles 62 and 63 and the criteria to judge a person. “You can’t declare a person eligible to contest elections only because he knows Dua-i-Qanoot,” he added.

“And if this is the criterion then every candidate should be asked to recite it before election officials,” he said.

Dr Alvi said PTI had already suggested that there should be direct elections for the Senate and on the seats reserved for women and minorities.

The sub-committee is also looking into the legal and constitutional matters pertaining to the working of the ECP and is busy preparing recommendations for making the commission more powerful.

The sub-committee had so far held 19 meetings in which it had received briefings from officials of various institutions, including the ECP and National Database and Registration Authority, besides reviewing various laws related to elections.

The 11-member sub-committee is scheduled to meet on June 5.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2015

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