Minister for Finance Senator Ishaq Dar said on Tuesday that the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms (PCER) has completed 80 per cent work on the proposals received from various sectors and the remaining work would be finalized soon.
Addressing a press briefing, Ishaq Dar said that the PCER received a total of 1,283 proposals comprising over 4,000 pages from various quarters including civil society organizations, lawyers and general public.
The PCER constituted an 11-member sub-committee under Zahid Hamid, MNA to examine these proposals and make recommendations regarding the proposals.
The finance minister, who is also chairman of the committee, said the sub- committee had examined various proposals regarding six election laws namely Delimitation of Constituencies Act, 1974; Electoral Rolls Act, 1974; Political Parties Order, 2002: Allocation of Symbols Order, 2002; Election Commission Order, 2002; and partly, the Representation of the People Act, 1976 (RoPA). All these laws are being unified into one law, he added.
He said the main committee had also identified the shortcomings in Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and referred them to the sub-committee for overcoming them. He said the sub-committee has also decided to enlist those issues on which consensus could not be yet made within 10 days and sent them to the main committee for further consideration.
The minister said the sub-committee would finalize all its recommendations within a month and then send them to the main committee.
Speaking on the occasion, Zahid Hamid said that the committee was also considering the proposal of use of biometrics verification machine in the electoral process to ensure free, fair and transparent elections in the country in future.
He said in the forthcoming by-election in NA-19, biometrics verification electronic machines would be used in 50 polling stations on experimental basis. He said the sub-committee was formed to examine and make recommendations regarding the tabulated proposals received by the Committee in respect of electoral reforms required to ensure free, fair and transparent elections including adoption of latest available technology along with draft legislation and constitutional amendments, if required.
