Senate passes Election Amendment Bill

Liaquat Ali

Islamabad: After approval from the National Assembly, the Senate has also passed the Election Act Amendment Bill, which bars independent candidates from joining political parties after a designated post-election period, subject to review by the top court.

The “Elections (Second Amendment) Act, 2024” has proposed changes to the Elections Act 2017.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Senator Talal Chaudhry presented the amendment bill in the upper house of parliament where it was passed by the majority.

Leader of the Opposition Senator Shibli Faraz opposed the bill and said that this bill is against the democratic values.

Meanwhile, the Federal Minister for Law Azam Nazir Tarar while commenting on the bill said “The elected Parliament has the right to lawmaking, and it cannot be given to 17 people.”

Replying to the Opposition Leader in the Senate, Azam Nazir Tarar said that PTI violated all rules during their government established unconstitutionally in 2018.

He said that PTI had come in the government through huge rigging and even it did not allow the opposition to complain against the election theft.

Tarar said that PTI should applogize for their unconstitutional acts.

According to the details, the bill also said that an independent candidate shall not be considered a candidate of any party if they filed a statement to that effect at a later stage.

Another amendment proposed to the election laws said a political party should not be allocated seats reserved for women and non-Muslim candidates if it fails to submit its list for the reserved seats within the prescribed time.