Senate approves amendment prohibiting disqualified persons from holding party offices

• Experts term move ‘symbolic’ as opposition has no strength to get bill passed in NA

ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Monday approved an opposition’s amendment to the Elections Act, 2017 seeking to prohibit a disqualified person from becoming an office bearer of any political party.

Senator Shibli Faraz of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) introduced the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2017 in the House which was jointly sponsored by 12 lawmakers belonging to PTI and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Federal Law Minister Zahid Hamid opposed the bill, asserting that the opposition was taking an unconstitutional step.

As many as 21 lawmakers debated the bill while 49 lawmakers voted in favour, and 18 voted against it.

Speaking on the bill, Shibli Faraz said that the clause 203 (1), which allowed a person disqualified by the court from holding a public office to become a political party’s office-bearer, made a mockery of the court’s verdict and so the bill presented against it should be passed by the upper house of the Parliament.

Those who voted in favour of the bill included members from PPP, PTI, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q). Interestingly, five senators of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), who normally vote for the treasury benches, supported the opposition’s bill.

Last month, the opposition parties in the Senate, despite having a majority in the House, had been unable to the stop the passage of the government’s amendment Elections Bill 2017. The step was taken against the approval given to ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif to head the ruling party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), after amendments were made to the Elections Bill, 2017.

Now, the amendment to the Elections Act 2017 would be presented in the National Assembly where it could be rejected as the PML-N has a majority in the lower house of the Parliament.

Introduced during Musharraf’s era, PPO Section 5 (1) says that every citizen, not being in the service of Pakistan, has the right to form or be a member of a political party or be otherwise associated with a political party or take part in political activities or be elected as an office-bearer of a political party.

But the clause currently has a proviso which reads: “Provided that a person shall not be appointed or serve as an office-bearer of a political party if he is not qualified to be, or is disqualified from being, elected or chosen as a member of Parliament under Article 63 of the Constitution…or under any other law for the time being in force”.

This very clause had been removed in the government-introduced bill recently and when the bill was passed in the National Assembly, it went unnoticed. It was only during voting on the bill in the Senate that leader of the opposition Aitzaz Ahsan had brought the development to the notice of the house and proposed an amendment to the relevant law passed by the National Assembly.

It is pertinent to mention here that the united opposition made an effort to repair some damage it had suffered recently when the number-weak treasury had manoeuvred smartly to get a bill passed with a difference of one vote from the Senate as the opposition’s lawmakers were in absence on the day of voting.

Experts believe it was a futile effort by the united opposition aimed at playing with galleries as the opposition enjoys a majority in the Senate, but it has not the required numbers in the National Assembly. Hence, even when the opposition has got the amendment passed by the Senate, it will face defeat in the National Assembly.

Subsequently, the opposition would also fail to get the amendment passed from a joint session of the Parliament where still the treasury bench enjoys a majority.

OTHER BUSINESS

The House referred the Prevention and Management of Conflict of Interest Bill, 2017, the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Amendment of Article 153), the Federal Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2017, and the National Commission on the Status of Women (Amendment) Bill, 2017 to the relevant standing committees following their introduction.

The House adopted seven private members’ resolutions urging the government to ensure autonomy of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in financial matters, construct a motorway to connect Karachi with other parts of the country, improve the performance of the Karachi Pakistan Cotton Standard Institute, ban the import of luxury items including exotic fruit,  establish separate counters for women in NADRA offices in District Mansehra, install biometric attendance system in all the Federal Government hospitals and take immediate steps for the revival of failing or closed sustainable textile units for the economic benefits of the country.

Four other resolutions appearing on the agenda were dropped due to the absence of concerned lawmakers while two resolutions were deferred on requests of the mover and the relevant minister.

The movers of the Islamabad Capital Territory Senior Citizens Welfare Bill, 2017, the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Amendment of sections 154 and 156 and insertion of new section 154A), the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Amendment of sections 46 and 57), the Islamabad Consumers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Anti-Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Medical and Dental Council (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the National Health Care Bill, 2017, the Defamation (Amendment) Bill, 2017, and the Financial Institutions (Recovery of Finances) (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Amendment of section 2) withdrew their bills.

The House deferred the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2017.

The chair informed the House that the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Amendment of Article 228), the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and the Islamabad Restriction on Employment of Children Bill, 2017 had been received back from the standing committees and were awaiting notices under Rule 100 for their consideration in the House.

The House held discussions on Motions under Rule 218 regarding revitalising the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA), imposition of various taxes through electricity bills, delay in announcement of NFC Award, cartels in the cement and automobile sectors, extremism and intolerance in society, continuous unprovoked ceasefire violation on Line of Control (LOC) by India. As many 20 lawmakers took part in these discussions. The ministers for law and justice, federal education and professional training, and ports and shipping summed up the discussions.

The House deferred four motions under Rule 218 on requests of concerned ministers or lawmakers while as many motions were dropped due to the absence of the relevant lawmakers. The lawmakers also raised three points of public importance.