ISLAMABAD: MNAs Syed Naveed Qamar and Dr Azra Fazal Pecheho moved a motion in the National Assembly on November 21, 2017, for consideration of the Election (Amendment) Bill, a private members bill which had been earlier passed by the Senate.
This bill sought to amend section 203 of the ‘Election Act 2017’ to insert a provision barring a person from being appointed or serving as an office bearer of a political party who is not qualified to be, or is disqualified from being, elected or chosen as a Member of Parliament under any law for the time being in force, said a press release issued by PID here on Thursday.
Opposing the motion, Law Minister Zahid Hamid narrated the history of the provision disqualifying office bearers of political parties.
General Ayub Khan’s regime had enacted the Political Parties Act, 1962, of which section 5 disqualified a person for being a member or office bearer of a political party if he had been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment of not less than two years, or disqualified under Articles 121 or 122 of the 1962 Constitution for gross misconduct, or dismissed from the Service of Pakistan or disqualified for misconduct under EBDO [Elective Bodies (Disqualification) Order, 1959].
This provision was omitted by the democratic government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto through the Political Parties (Amendment) Act, 1972, which specifically stated in its preamble that the amendments were being made for the purpose of bringing these provisions in accord with the constitution.
This situation prevailed for 25 years till the year 2000, when section 4 of the Political Parties Act, 1962, was amended by General Musharaf’s regime to bar a person from being an office bearer of a political party if he is disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a Member of Parliament under Article 63 of the constitution or under any other law for the time being in force, or if he has been convicted of a criminal offence, involving moral turpitude, or an offence under the Anti-Terrorism Act, or involving public order or morality.
This was followed by the Political Parties Order, 2002, of which Article 5 retained the provision barring a person from being an office bearer of a political party if he is disqualified from being, elected or chosen as, a member of parliament under Article 63 of the constitution or any other law. These amendments were made by General Musharraf with the mala fide intention of preventing Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif from heading their respective political parties.
On Nov 17, 2014, in the 5th meeting of the Sub-Committee of the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms, during the review of the Political Parties Order, 2002, the disqualification provision referred to above in Article 5 was recommended to be omitted. This clearly disproves the allegation that omission of the provision was person-specific to benefit Mian Nawaz Sharif as this decision was made nearly a year and a half before the Panama Papers were leaked.
The omission/ removal of the disqualification provision is in accordance with Article 17(2) of the constitution which entitles every citizen, not being in the service of Pakistan, to form and be a member of a political party. This right is subject only to reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan and cannot be curbed by any other condition.
Law minister also stated that on Jan 6, 2017, a comparative table of the Draft Elections Bill, 2017, (which was published on Dec 20, 2016) and comparable provisions of the existing laws, including the Political Parties Order, 2002, was shared with MNAs Naveed Qamar MNA and Dr Arif Alvi on their request through e-mail. The comparative table clearly shows the proposed amendment in Article 5(1) of the Political Parties Order, 2002.
The above decision of the Sub-Committee was incorporated in the draft bill submitted to the main PCER on Dec 20, 2016, posted on the website of the Assembly and widely circulated. It was again included in the bill attached with the final report of the Sub-Committee and then with the final report of the PCER dated July 19, 2017, which was laid before both houses of parliament.
No member of the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms, Sub-Committee of the Parliamentary Committee, MNA or senator, civil society organisations or any person from general public raised any objection regarding the omission of the disqualification provision from Nov 17, 2014, till Aug 22, 2017, when it was passed by the National Assembly.
It was only on September 22, 2017, that this objection was raised for the first time on the Senate floor by the opposition parties. Their amendment was defeated in the Senate by one vote. The opposition parties’ objection was clearly an afterthought, and was targeted against Nawaz Sharif, as is clear from the difference in wording of the original provision in Article 5 (1) of the Political Parties Order, 2002, and the provision sought to be inserted through the bill in question, whereby reference to Article 63 has been omitted.
It is not section 203 of the Election Act, 2017, but the Election (Amendment) Bill, 2017, of the opposition parties which is person-specific. It has been rightly rejected by the National Assembly.
