ISLAMABAD: The Special Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms (SPCER) has almost finalised the draft of a unified law for electoral reforms and will meet on Wednesday.

However, another sub-committee was formed on Tuesday which will be headed by Arif Alvi, a leader of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI). The sub-committee would review proposed electronic voting system, biometric verification of voters, voting by overseas Pakistanis and working of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM).

Once the draft is approved by the committee, it will turn into a draft bill which will be introduced in the National Assembly for approval.

“Although the committee has finalised the draft of the unified law on electoral reforms unanimously, the PTI has shown reservations on some of the recommendations,” said Mr Alvi while talking to Dawn.

Asked if the draft of the unified law has been finalised, he said the main committee which is meeting on Wednesday would look into the legal side of the reforms while a sub-committee would work on other issues.

It is pertinent to mention here that the sub-committee was formed to address the concerns shown by the PTI in the committee, including the right to vote for overseas Pakistanis.

According to the ECP, the total number of Pakistanis living abroad is about 6.7 million but only 3.7m have the National Identity Cards for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP) making them eligible to vote.

Meanwhile, another sub-committee of the SPCER, which is headed by a ruling party leader Zahid Hamid met on Tuesday. The meeting was held in camera.

After the meeting of the sub-committee, another ruling party leader and federal minister for Information Technology Anusha Rehman told media persons that the subcommittee of Mr Alvi would look into the methodology of casting votes by overseas Pakistanis.

She said the minister of IT had submitted recommendations before the committee on working and handling of EVM.

She said that to review the progress of the main committee, its meeting is being held on Wednesday which will be presided over by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

Meanwhile, Mr Alvi said his party will put before the committee on Wednesday some more recommendations to ensure complete autonomy and independence of the ECP so that it could implement the law being drafted by the committee without any fear and political influence. “We believe that laws to curb rigging in the polls already exist but they have not been implemented fully by the ECP. As a result problems surface,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2016