ISLAMABAD, July 15: The Election Commission of Pakistan on Monday asked the government to finalise immediately the manner in which elections to the Senate will be held.

The Election Commission, in its meeting held on Mon-day under the chairmanship of Chief Election Commissioner, Justice Irshad Hasan Khan, took notice of the demands made by certain political parties and resolved that definition of the term “technocrat” should be finalised by the government without any further loss of time.

The National Reconstruction Bureau has proposed a new definition for the technocrat, prescribing educational qualification for technocrats. The proposed definition for technocrat is: “A person shall not be qualified or chosen against a seat in the Majlis-i-Shoora (Parliament) reserved for technocrat unless he is the holder of a degree requiring conclusion of at least 16 years of education, recognized by the University Grants Commission or a recognized statutory body, as well as at least 20 years’ experience including a record of achievements at the national or international level.”

The existing definition of technocrat which the NRB wanted to discard on the ground that it does not require any educational qualification for professionals to qualify as technocrat, is as follows:

“Technocrat” means a person of nationally or internationally recognized professional competence with at least 15 years’ experience and expertise who has been practising in his specialization by adopting it as his principal calling vocation or employment or has been at a high level for administering or managing an operational or policy-making unit.”

About the Senate and reserved seats for women, the Election Commission on Monday resolved “that the manner in which elections to the reserved seats for technocrats, the qualification and manner of elections for the reserved seats for women in the National Assembly and the Election for Senate of Pakistan should be finalised through appropriate legislation immediately.”

The government, however, without finalising the proposal through appropriate legislation, has announced that elections to the Senate will also be held on Oct 10.

The existing electoral college for Senate are provincial assemblies to indirectly elect senators to represent the province. The Senators from Fata are indirectly elected by the members from Fata in the National Assembly.

The present government has proposed to change it on the pretext that allegations of corruption were levelled in relation to Senate elections.

It also proposed to shorten the duration of Senate from six years to four years.

The government has proposed that the existing indirect election be replaced with a direct election through proportional representation based on open party lists. This method would allow only parties to nominate Senators and the number of seats won shall be determined by the percentage of total votes cast in favour of a party in each province.