ISLAMABAD - The coalition government faced a major setback on Saturday as President Arif Alvi refused to sign two important Amendment Bills, passed by the present government through the National Assembly, and sent back to the prime minister and the Parliament for review. The president observed that Article 46 of Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan had been violated as the president was not informed about this legislative proposal before bringing these Bills to the Parliament.
According to details officially shared by the President House, President Arif Alvi returned the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2022 in terms of Clause (1) (b) of Article 75 of the Constitution to the prime minister for reconsideration and detailed deliberation by the Parliament and its committee(s). He observed that the Article 46 of Constitution had been violated as the president was not informed about this legislative proposal before bringing this Bill to the Parliament.
The Article 46 of the Constitution provides, “The prime minister shall keep the president informed……. on all legislative proposals the federal government intends to bring before Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)”.
The president further observed that the amendments had been passed by the National Assembly on 26th May, 2022 and by the Senate on 27th May, 2022 in haste and without due diligence. He added that the legislation, having far reaching impact on the society should have been discussed in detail in consultation with the legal fraternity and civil society.
He said that overseas Pakistanis, who contribute their hard-earned wealth for the development and prosperity of their beloved country, have been deprived of the voting rights despite the fact that various commitments have been made to them by different prime ministers and presidents during their foreign trips since 1990’s.
As a result of constant pursuance by them, the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2018 upheld its earlier decision of 2014 on the voting rights of overseas Pakistanis and reiterated that with improving technology, efforts should be made to allow them to vote from outside of Pakistan, the president said.
Observes Senate and NA passed the amendments in haste, without due diligence
The Court, while endorsing the I-Voting observed that that I-Voting mechanism had been declared safe, reliable and effective by the third party when referred to it by the ECP and Nadra to determine its safety integrity and workability and the Court approved I-voting for utilisation in a pilot project, he added.
The court clearly observed: “We direct the results of the bye-elections and the vote count of the votes cast by overseas Pakistanis through the I-Voting mechanism shall be kept separately, and also secret till the time that ECP was satisfied about the technical efficacy, secrecy and security of their votes through I-voting system.”
The president further observed that according to the notification dated 17.08.2018, issued by the ECP regarding the programmes of the next bye-elections for 2018, the bye elections of 37 constituencies (both National and Provincial) were scheduled to take place on 14.10.2018, therefore, subsequent bye-elections (if any) as contemplated by Section 94 of the Act for the pilot projects, the elections had to be conducted in order to enable overseas Pakistanis to exercise their right to vote.
The president, while referring to the Supreme Court judgement said that the Supreme Court expressed its regret that the system was not being used despite its judgment in 2014. He emphasised that with very secure digital payments solutions already existing, and with more than $8 trillion transacted daily, the same processes can ensure anonymity and security of the vote and can also be subjected to complete audit on the truth-match of the vote cast.
While further arguing, the president said that electronic voting machine (EVM) to be adopted by Pakistan was unique and combines a paper system of votes as we already practice, together with an electronic counting to keep a permanent supportive safety record. The legislature can always make laws that in case of discrepancy or dispute, the paper count rather than the electronic count would take priority or vice versa, he added.
He recommended that Parliament should not regress on these laws, in fact; only improve them with set time lines to ensure implementation.
On the National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2022 the president observed that the Article 46 of the Constitution had also been violated as the president was not informed about this legislative proposal before bringing this Bill to the Parliament.
While dilating on the proposed amendments, the president said that by this amendment the burden of proof had been shifted to the persecution which had made NAB law similar to (CrPC) 1898.
This, he added, would make it impossible for the prosecution to prove cases of corruption and misuse of official authority by the state officials, and would bury the process of accountability in Pakistan.
He emphasised that this amendment would make the tracing money trail for the acquisition of illegal assets almost impossible especially when the records of the property/assets/wealth are neither digitised nor can be traced especially in Benami properties by the investigators.
He said that if the amendments were enacted as proposed, the ongoing mega corruption cases in the courts would be rendered infructuous; therefore, the proposed amendment which should have strengthened the accountability mechanism to eliminate corruption and political engineering to ensure good governance in the country had been rendered a toothless entity.
According to details officially shared by the President House, President Arif Alvi returned the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2022 in terms of Clause (1) (b) of Article 75 of the Constitution to the prime minister for reconsideration and detailed deliberation by the Parliament and its committee(s). He observed that the Article 46 of Constitution had been violated as the president was not informed about this legislative proposal before bringing this Bill to the Parliament.
The Article 46 of the Constitution provides, “The prime minister shall keep the president informed……. on all legislative proposals the federal government intends to bring before Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)”.
The president further observed that the amendments had been passed by the National Assembly on 26th May, 2022 and by the Senate on 27th May, 2022 in haste and without due diligence. He added that the legislation, having far reaching impact on the society should have been discussed in detail in consultation with the legal fraternity and civil society.
He said that overseas Pakistanis, who contribute their hard-earned wealth for the development and prosperity of their beloved country, have been deprived of the voting rights despite the fact that various commitments have been made to them by different prime ministers and presidents during their foreign trips since 1990’s.
As a result of constant pursuance by them, the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2018 upheld its earlier decision of 2014 on the voting rights of overseas Pakistanis and reiterated that with improving technology, efforts should be made to allow them to vote from outside of Pakistan, the president said.
Observes Senate and NA passed the amendments in haste, without due diligence
The Court, while endorsing the I-Voting observed that that I-Voting mechanism had been declared safe, reliable and effective by the third party when referred to it by the ECP and Nadra to determine its safety integrity and workability and the Court approved I-voting for utilisation in a pilot project, he added.
The court clearly observed: “We direct the results of the bye-elections and the vote count of the votes cast by overseas Pakistanis through the I-Voting mechanism shall be kept separately, and also secret till the time that ECP was satisfied about the technical efficacy, secrecy and security of their votes through I-voting system.”
The president further observed that according to the notification dated 17.08.2018, issued by the ECP regarding the programmes of the next bye-elections for 2018, the bye elections of 37 constituencies (both National and Provincial) were scheduled to take place on 14.10.2018, therefore, subsequent bye-elections (if any) as contemplated by Section 94 of the Act for the pilot projects, the elections had to be conducted in order to enable overseas Pakistanis to exercise their right to vote.
The president, while referring to the Supreme Court judgement said that the Supreme Court expressed its regret that the system was not being used despite its judgment in 2014. He emphasised that with very secure digital payments solutions already existing, and with more than $8 trillion transacted daily, the same processes can ensure anonymity and security of the vote and can also be subjected to complete audit on the truth-match of the vote cast.
While further arguing, the president said that electronic voting machine (EVM) to be adopted by Pakistan was unique and combines a paper system of votes as we already practice, together with an electronic counting to keep a permanent supportive safety record. The legislature can always make laws that in case of discrepancy or dispute, the paper count rather than the electronic count would take priority or vice versa, he added.
He recommended that Parliament should not regress on these laws, in fact; only improve them with set time lines to ensure implementation.
On the National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2022 the president observed that the Article 46 of the Constitution had also been violated as the president was not informed about this legislative proposal before bringing this Bill to the Parliament.
While dilating on the proposed amendments, the president said that by this amendment the burden of proof had been shifted to the persecution which had made NAB law similar to (CrPC) 1898.
This, he added, would make it impossible for the prosecution to prove cases of corruption and misuse of official authority by the state officials, and would bury the process of accountability in Pakistan.
He emphasised that this amendment would make the tracing money trail for the acquisition of illegal assets almost impossible especially when the records of the property/assets/wealth are neither digitised nor can be traced especially in Benami properties by the investigators.
He said that if the amendments were enacted as proposed, the ongoing mega corruption cases in the courts would be rendered infructuous; therefore, the proposed amendment which should have strengthened the accountability mechanism to eliminate corruption and political engineering to ensure good governance in the country had been rendered a toothless entity.