ISLAMABAD: The opposition in the National Assembly on Friday objected to the proposed elections bill in its present form and sought significant amendments to it, with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) ruling out the possibility of transparent polls under the present Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The Elections Bill 2017 proposes up to Rs100,000 fine or three years imprisonment for lawmakers if irregularities are found in the details of their assets. It also suggests that the membership of lawmakers should also be terminated if they fail to submit the details. The bill proposes additional powers for the ECP, enabling it to summon the services of any institution to probe any irregularity in the asset details submitted by lawmakers.

Taking part in the debate on the bill, which unifies eight different laws pertaining to electoral processes, PTI’s Dr Shirin Mazari ruled out transparent polls if four key demands of her party were not met. She said fair elections were not possible under the present Election Commission of Pakistan and called for its reconstitution before fresh elections.

She stressed the need for implementing a plan to facilitate overseas Pakis­tanis to cast their votes, saying polls without their participation would be meaningless.

She recalled that National Database and Registration Authority officials had informed a subcommittee of the parliamentary panel on electoral reforms that it was possible to provide out-of-country voting facility to the overseas Pakistanis.

Ms Mazari also said that fair polls were not possible without authentication of voters through biometric verification machines at polling stations. The caretaker government should be selected through a parliamentary committee, she added.

In hard-hitting NA speech, Achakzai calls for ending role of agencies in democratic institutions to ensure transparent polls

PPP’s Syed Naveed Qamar called for improving the quality of ballot papers and said the paper with watermark should be used for the purpose.

Opposing the ban on transport provided to voters by political parties, he said voters of rural areas needed any sort of conveyance, including tractor or trolley, which might take them to polling stations. “Don’t make a law which creates problems for them to reach poll stations to cast their vote.”

At the outset of the session, PTI’s Hamidul Haq pointed out lack of quorum and the proceedings were suspended for 20 minutes.

Jamaat-i-Islami’s warning

The house also adopted a resolution to dispense with question hour on Monday to give ample time to the members to express their views on the election bill, which is most likely to be passed the same day.

Sahibzada Tariqullah of Jamaat-i-Islami warned the PML-N leadership against any attempt to amend Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution. “Any amendment to these two articles will be considered treason with the Constitution,” he said.

The JI parliamentary leader said elections should be held on the basis of proportional electorate and called for increasing the limit of election expenses by candidates. He also objected to the condition of minimum 10 per cent female votes of total turnout in a constituency for a valid election.

Naeema Kishwar Khan of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) also criticised the bill for its restriction of 10pc female vote cast for the election validity and said the ECP could not force anyone to cast vote at any cost. She said allotting 5pc quota to women contenders was also against the spirit of democracy and the Constitution.

The JUI-F legislators also strongly criticised the issue of giving access to political agents of searchable data containing pictures of women and asked the government to review it because it might be a security risk for women.

Taking part in the discussion on the elections bill, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai observed that ending the role of secret agencies was a sine qua non for holding free and fair elections in the country.

He alleged that secret agencies were meddling in the working of democratic institutions and playing a role in elections. “This is the only country in the world where politicians are invented by them [agencies], they are given money and then they are dubbed corrupt by them.” He urged all political parties to take a firm decision that all the decisions would be taken by parliament and there would be no role of agencies in democratic institutions. “I will salute generals who obey the Constitution and consider those corrupt and illiterate who do not obey this sacred document.”

The PkMAP chief cited the example of Soviet Union’s devastation where it was not possible for anyone to enter power corridors without the support of its secret agency KGB.

“They [agencies] also raised Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) against the Pakistan Peoples Party prior to 1990 elections,” he said, in an apparent indirect att­ack on his party’s ally — the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz that also allegedly received money from the ISI’s political wing.

He called for learning a lesson from the mistakes committed in the past and said political parties should throw out those leaders from their ranks who remained in contact with secret agencies.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2017