ISLAMABAD: Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Friday constituted a 33-member parliamentary committee on electoral reforms to evaluate shortcomings of the previous electoral process and make recommendations to hold free, fair and transparent elections.

The speaker took this step after the motions adopted by the National Assembly on June 19, and by the Senate on June 30 in this regard.

It was decided on July 19 that 11 parliamentarians of the Upper House and the 22 parliamentarians of the Lower House will be part of the committee while the Chairman Senate Syed Nayyar Hussain Bokhari will forward the list of 11 parliamentarians to the Speaker National Assembly to constitute a committee of 33 members.

According to notification the ruling PML-N nominated eight members including Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Senator Malik Muhammad Rafique Rajwana, Zahid Hamid, Anusha Rehman Khan Advocate, Lt. Gen. (Retd) Abdul Qadir Baluch, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Abdul Hakeem Baluch and Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry for the electoral reforms committee.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the major opposition party in the National Assembly nominated Syed Naveed Qamar, Shazia Mari, Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, Senator Mian Raza Rabbani and Senator Farooq Hamid Naek for the committee.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) nominated Shafqat Mehmood, Dr Shireen Mazari and Dr. Arif Alvi for the electoral reforms committee.

Senator Col. Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, Naeema Kishwar Khan and Dr Muhammad Farooq Sattar will represent MQM in the electoral reforms committee.

The government and opposition parties agreed to give voice to all the parties which have their representation in the Senate or the National Assembly.

Abdul Rahim Mandokhail from PKMAP, Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao from Qaumi Watan Party, Ejaz ul Haq from PML-Z, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed from Awami Muslim League, Sahibzada Tariq Ullah from JI, Senator Haji Mohammad Adeel from ANP, Usman Khan Tarakai from Awami Jamhuri Ittehad Pakistan, Ghulam Murtaza Khan Jatoi of National Peoples Party, Ghaus Bux Khan Mahar of PML-Functional, Syed Ghazi Ghulab Jamal from Independent members of the National Assembly, Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed from PML, Senator Mir Israrullah Khan Zehri of BNP-A, Senator Hilal ur Rehman from FATA , Senator Muhammad Talha Mehmood from JUI-F will also be part of the committee.

It is important to mention here that the members of the committee will select a chairman to head the committee.

Sources close to the PML-N leadership told Dawn.com that the government is interested to get the slot of the Chairman for the Minister of Science and Technology Zahid Hamid who already served as law minister in the Musharraf government.

In a bid to counter the ongoing campaign regarding the electoral reforms of the 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 PTI, which has called for a million-man march on Islamabad next month to press its demands around electoral reforms, has already nominated three members for the committee.