ISLAMABAD: The parliamentary committee on electoral reforms, which met for the third day in a row on Thursday, has completed almost all of its work, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said, hoping that a consensus proposal would be ready by the next week.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Mr Tarar said that 99 per cent of the work had been completed and there were only a few clauses that required more discussion.

He said all parties agreed on the proposed rectifications.

He said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had objected to a few points, which could be resolved soon.

Tarar says contentious issues to be taken up on Monday, leading to draft bill meant to ensure transparent elections

Sources earlier told Dawn that the government planned to amend the elections laws and a bill was expected to be tabled during the farewell session of the assembly to be held later this month.

The draft of the proposed law is presently under consideration by the special parliamentary committee on electoral reforms headed by former National Assembly speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.

The committee was expected to finalise the draft suggesting some key changes to election laws in its meeting on Thursday.

However, Mr Tarar said that the contentious issues needing further discussion would be examined on Monday, leading to a consensus draft of the bill meant to ensure transparency in electoral processes.

He said the best thing about Thursday’s meeting was that a consensus was reached on the things that were not agreed upon earlier.

He said the proposal to make parliament the supreme authority in matters relating to dissolving a party or the membership of a party member instead of the Supreme Court had already been dropped by the committee.

He said Senator Syed Ali Zafar of PTI had informed the panel that he would give his suggestions on the remaining issues.

Mr Tarar, however, made it clear that the pending issues were not of political nature but more of legal and technical nature.

A participant in the meeting told Dawn that the pending issues included examining the pros and cons of postal ballot. He said the panel would also see whether the code of conduct for polls should be framed.

“The code of conduct had been framed by the Supreme Court, which does not have the jurisdiction,” he said.

Asked about the proposal to dissolve the National and provincial assemblies days before the expiry of their terms, he said it was a political decision and the committee was examining only the proposed amendments to the Elections Act.

The in-camera meeting of the parliamentary committee was also attended by Commerce Minister Naveed Qamar, Senator Taj Haider, MNA Afzal Dhandla, Senator Manzoor Ahmed, Senator Kamran Murtaza, Dr Fehmida Mirza and the Election Commission’s secretary. Senator Syed Ali Zafar of PTI joined via a video link.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2023