Both Senate and NA give assent to Elections (Second Amendment) Bill, 2024 with majority vote.  Opposition rejects the legislation terming it an attack on apex court authority. Law minister says it’s prerogative of parliament to legislate and not of apex court.

ISLAMABAD   -  Hours after its passage from the National Assembly, the controversial elections amendment bill that is being viewed by many as an attempt of the ruling coalition to block the Supreme Court judgment on reserved seats for the PTI sailed through the Senate on Tuesday amid protest by the opposition party of former prime minister Imran Khan.

The Senate passed the Elections (Second Amendment) Bill, 2024 with a majority of vote immediately after it was tabled in the house through a supplementary agenda by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Talal Chaudhry.

The rules were suspended to take the proposed law for immediate consideration as a private member bill without being sent to the standing committee concerned Earlier, the National Assembly passed The Election (Second Amendment) Bill 2024”, which seeks to bar independents from joining a political party after the period specified for the purpose in the law. It also restraints political parties from submitting priority list of their candidates for reserved seats after the passage of the stipulated timeline.

The parliament passed the controversial law on the cut-off date for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to implement the apex court’s majority judgment that accepted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as a parliamentary party and gave it seats reserved for women and minorities in the national and provincial assemblies.

After the passage of the legislation, the fate of the apex court ruling hangs in the balance while political observers fear that the law would be struck down by the apex court. The bill will become an act of the parliament after a formal assent by President Asif Ali Zardari.

The law proposes amendments to the Elections Act 2017, saying that a political party should not be allocated reserved seats if it failed to submit its list of candidates for such seats within the prescribed time.

Another amendment suggests a candidate should be considered an independent lawmaker if he/she had not filed a declaration with the returning officer about his/her affiliation with a particular political party before seeking the allotment of a poll symbol.

Similarly, it said that no independent candidate or candidates shall exercise his/their right to join a political party at a subsequent stage after the period specified for the purpose in the constitution and the law.

The bill also includes a declaration that the proposed amendments would take precedence over court orders including the Supreme Court.

After its introduction in the Senate; the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) opposed the bill, calling it an assault on the Supreme Court. “It is a direct, shameful and blatant attack on the majority of the judges,” said Leader of the Opposition in the House Shibli Faraz while referring to eight judges who gave a majority judgment against five.

Speaking in the house, the opposition leader expressed his surprise that the government had brought a legislation that was based on the minority view of the ruling that opposed the idea of giving reserved seats to PTI. He said that the proposed law was aimed at circumventing the implementation of the judgment.

Coming down hard on the ECP for its alleged failure to meet its constitutional obligation to hold free and fair elections, Senator Shibli said it was now known as the ‘selection commission of Pakistan.’

Opposing the bill, Shibli said that it was an attempt to cover up the mandate theft committed on this year’s February 8 – the election day, noting that PTI’s mandate was also stolen in 2018 elections but the scale of rigging in the last elections was large.

He elaborated how PTI was deprived of its election symbol ‘bat’, then controversial returning officers were appointed from the civil administration and internet services were suspended on the election day. He added that the people still voted in favour of PTI and the party was deprived of its majority through manipulation in election results.

He also said the parliament had been used to amend the law to provide for appointment of retired judges as election tribunals to manage the results of rigged elections.

He noted that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) stands today where it was in 1971 when Pakistan broke into two parts. “Today, it is the time to redeem yourself,” he told PPP, advising it not to become part of a conspiracy to deprive a party of its mandate.

In his response, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar defended the legislation saying it was the right of the parliament to legislate “not of 17 judges of the apex court.” “The SC has powers to interpret the constitution but there should be a difference between the interpretation and re-writing the constitution,” he said while indirectly referring that the SC ruling was beyond the constitutional scheme.

Talking about the minority views of the two judges against the ruling, the law minister said that voices were even being raised from the institution of the SC that some relief had been provided to PTI in the reserved seas case without making amendments in the Articles 51 and Article 106 of the constitution.

The Parliamentary Leader of PTI in the House Syed Ali Zafar termed the bill against the Constitution and hoped that it would be nullified by the SC. He said that the judgment of the SC court could only be annulled through a constitutional amendment and not a simple legislation as the apex court interpreted the constitution, not the law.

The Senate was adjourned to meet again on Friday due to lack of quorum after the count found only 19 members were present in the house.

Earlier, in the National Assembly, the controversial bill was passed with the opposition on its contents by PTI’s lawmakers.

Sharing their arguments, the treasury benches lawmakers commented that legislation is the prerogative of the parliament. They defended that this bill is in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution.

On the other side, the opposition members decried that this bill would snatch the right of members to join the party. PTI’s Ali Muhammad Khan said this controversial bill would not serve the right purpose as it would deprive the real rights of the members.

“If party is being granted a right through the apex court...What is the need of a new law at this juncture,” he questioned, while rejecting the bill and termed it an attack on the SC through the parliament by the government.

He, on behalf of the party, warned that they would knock at the door of the Supreme Court against it.  Another opposition member Shahida Akhtar of religio-political party observed that such legislation would weaken the parliament.

Responding to a calling attention notice, Law Minister Nazir Tarar informed the house that work is being done on a war footing to ensure the timely issuance of passports.

He said relevant equipment is being procured, including twenty state-of-the-art printers, to enhance the capacity for passport printing to over 55,000 per day. He mentioned that the installation of this equipment will start by the end of September this year and expressed confidence that the situation regarding passport issuance will improve starting in October.

Four bills were also laid before the house including ‘The Acid and Burn Crime Bill’, ‘the National Commission on the Rights of Child Amendment Bill’, ‘Islamabad Capital Territory Child Marriage Restraint Bill’ and ‘the Ravi Institute Sahiwal Bill’.

Meanwhile, the house approved a resolution calling upon India to stop blatant human rights violations in Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and implement the UN Security Council resolutions so that the Kashmiri people can decide their future through an impartial and fair plebiscite under the umbrella of the United Nations.

The resolution moved by Minister for Kashmir Affairs Amir Muqam, expressed solidarity with the oppressed Kashmir people. It demanded India to release the detained Kashmiri political leadership.

Alluding to the presence of a large number of Indian troops in IIOJK, the resolution strongly rejected the unilateral and illegal steps of 5th August, 2019.

Paying glowing tributes to the struggle and sacrifices of Kashmiri people, the resolution reaffirmed Pakistan’s unwavering political, diplomatic and moral support to the Kashmiri people in their legitimate struggle for right to self-determination.