ISLAMABAD: The government and opposition on Thursday agreed on a procedure to constitute a committee of the parliamentarians regarding the electoral reforms.

After attending a meeting of the lawmakers belonging to both treasury and opposition benches, Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq told Dawn.com that 33 parliamentarians of all the parliamentary parties will be part of the committee regarding the electoral reforms.

Chairman Senate Syed Nayyar Hussain Bokhari, State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmed, Leader of the House in Senate, Raja Zafarul Haq were also present in the meeting.

He said leaders from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the opposition parties will finalise names of the parliamentarians, adding that 11 members of the Senate and 22 members of the lower house will be part of the committee.

“There were some concerns shown by the members of the Senate regarding their representation in the committee or the lack of it … so it was decided that 11 senators of different political parties will represent the Upper House in the committee,” said Sadiq.

The speaker said that both government and opposition have agreed to provide the names of their representatives as soon as possible to set up the committee, adding that members of the committee will then select the chairman of the committee.

In a bid to counter the ongoing campaign regarding the electoral reforms of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wrote to the National Assembly speaker on June 10, asking him to constitute a special parliamentary committee with members of both houses of parliament to deliberate the issue.

He had suggested that the proposed committee should present strong recommendations on free and fair elections, establishment of caretaker government and use of modern technology in polls.

Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), which has called for a million-man march on Islamabad next month to press its demands around electoral reform demand, has already nominated three members for the committee.

A party spokesman had told Dawn that the PTI would be represented by Dr Shireen Mazari, Dr Arif Alvi and Shafqat Mehmood.

The main opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has nominated stalwarts Aitzaz Ahsan, Raza Rabbani, Syed Naveed Qamar and Shazia Marri in the 33-member committee.

Sources told Dawn the ruling PML-N will be represented by seven members, including Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi and four ministers.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Science and Technology Minister Zahid Hamid, Safron Minister Abdul Qadir Baloch, Minister of State for Information Technology Anusha Rehman, MNAs Hakeem Baloch and Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry are the other members nominated by the party.