-PDM lawmakers deprive overseas Pakistanis of their right to Vote
-Law Minister says holding elections using Electronic Voting Machines
in a single day “impossible”
-NA approves amendments to NAB laws
By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Thursday passed a bill to abolish the former government’s election reforms giving overseas Pakistanis the right to vote through i-Voting and electronic voting machines (EVMs).
The development came during the Parliament meeting convened by President Arif Alvi to deliberate on the current economic situation of the country.
The Election Amendment Bill 2022 — which was introduced by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Murtaza Javed Abbasi — was introduced in the National Assembly Thursday.
The NA had bulldozed legislation for use of EVMs through the passage of a bill on November 17, 2021, giving overseas Pakistanis the right to vote in general elections through a voting device introduced by the PTI government.
Speaking at the NA session, Federal Minister of Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar said that holding polls using EVMs in a single day is “impossible”.
Tarar said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had also expressed its inability to hold the elections through i-voting and EVMs in such a short span of time, that too without proper homework. He said two amendments are being brought to revive the Elections Act 2017, enabling the ECP to ensure free, fair, and transparent elections.
The minister dismissed the impression that the amendment was aimed at depriving overseas Pakistanis of their right to vote, adding that Pakistanis living abroad were a “precious asset of the country” and the government does not believe in snatching their right to vote.
Regarding the use of EVMs, the law minister said they are not against the use of technology, but they had concerns about misuse of technology as the Results Transmission System (RTS) had failed in the 2018 elections to favour a particular political party.
Meanwhile, a motion to suspend the rule of sending
Election Act Amendment Bill 2022 to the Standing Committee was also passed.
Moreover, the house also approved the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Bill, 2021, formulating a post-retirement procedure for its chairman.
In a bid to curtail the powers of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the National Assembly also approved amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.
The bill was tabled by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar who said that multiple amendments were made in the accountability Ordinance to clip the powers exercised by the accountability bureau.
Sharing details of the key amendments, he said that after fresh amendments, no arrests could be made before completion of the investigation process, and the suspect will have the right to obtain bail while 90-day remand is also abolished.
“90-day remand is for terrorists and we have now reduced the duration of remand to 14 days,” he said and added that no defamation campaign could be carried out unless the suspect is convicted in the case. The case could not be used for political purposes in the assets beyond means case, he said.
Azam Nazeer Tarar further said that the NAB will now be bound to initiate an inquiry within six months of the complaint, contrary to previous procedure when there was no time limit.
The law minister said that the NAB law was used for political purposes to target opponents. “The previous government made many amendments through the passage of the ordinance and only to extend the tenure of the incumbent chairman NAB,” he said.
