ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday showed its readiness to withdraw some of the clauses of the Elections (Amendment) Bill 2021 on which the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the opposition parties had raised serious objections as Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan told a Senate body that the government would not defend and pursue anything unconstitutional in the proposed law.

“The minister has given us an undertaking that the government will not pursue anything which is against the constitution,” said Taj Haider, chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, after presiding over the committee’s meeting which reviewed the proposed bill which has already been passed by the National Assembly.

The official handout issued by the Senate Secretariat after the meeting quoted the minister to have stated: “We would not make any amendment to the bill that is unconstitutional.”

The minister said the bill had been drafted by Law Minister Farogh Naseem and former parliamentary affairs minister Azam Khan Swati.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Haider said they had started clause-by-clause discussion on the bill and the committee could only take up 25 per cent agenda. He said the committee members sought input on each clause from the minister and the secretary for the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.

Responding to a question, Mr Haider said he intentionally did not raise the controversy regarding the Senate chairman’s act of cancelling the briefing of the representatives of the civil society, including Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen), as he had already written a letter to Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani protesting over this act.

Mr Haider, however, said that he had called an informal meeting with the Fafen representatives before start of the committee’s meeting. The meeting was attended only by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar.

Responding to a question, Mr Haider said he had invited all the members of the committee to the informal meeting, but perhaps they could not attend it because the meeting was held on a very short notice. He termed the Fafen briefing “very useful”.

Mr Haider said some of the members suggested him to wait for the outcome of the report of the committee constituted by the speaker to review the bills, including the two bills regarding the election laws, passed by the government in haste on June 8, but he refused.

Meanwhile, sources told Dawn that during the meeting, the secretary of parliamentary affairs ministry faced a tough time from the members, especially from PPP’s Farooq Naek. Mr Naek criticised the government’s move to hand over the responsibility of voters’ registration to Nadra, instead of the ECP, terming it an unconstitutional act.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2021