ELECTION COMMISSION HAS RECOMMENDED AMENDMENTS IN THE CONSTITUTION AND ELECTION LAWS TO MAKE ELECTION PROCESS MORE TRANSPARENT AND VOTER FRIENDLY
KANWAR MUHAMMAD DILSHAD
Secretary, Election Commission of Pakistan
Islamabad, the 13th March, 2009.- Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad, Secretary, Election Commission of Pakistan told that Recommendations for Comprehensive Legal Electoral Reforms have been forwarded to the Prime Minister of Pakistan with the approval of the Election Commission of Pakistan comprising Hon’ble Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan Mr. Justice (R ) Qazi Muhammad Farooq and the Learned Members of Election Commission Mr. Justice Nasim Sikandar, Judge, Lahore High Court, Mr. Justice Ahmed Khan Lashari, Judge, High Court of Balochistan and Mr. Justice Jehan Zaib Rahim, Judge, Peshawar High Court.
2. Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad went on saying that conscious of the fact that man-made system can never be perfect and there is always room for further improvement, the Election Commission, over the years, developed a self-appraisal mechanism. This helped us in assessing our performance after every General Elections and identifying gaps, if any, in the Electoral Process.
3. Kanwar Dilshad further told that Recommendations for making Election Process more transparent were included in the Election Reports released after General Elections held in 1985, 1990, 1993 and 1997, which are testimony to Election Commission’s persistent desire and efforts to bring more fairness and transparency to Election Process. He elaborated by saying that the journey to better Election Process has been gradual and consistent and the Election Commission never wasted an opportunity to improve its performance, so as to make the whole Election Process a credible exercise.
4. Mr. Dilshad further said that coupled with Election Commission’s own firm belief in enhancing its capability to perform and keeping in view the most conducive environment available for affecting positive changes, the Hon’ble Chief Election Commissioner constituted “Electoral Reforms Committee” in April 2008, consisting of the following officers:
· Secretary, Election Commission of Pakistan Chairman
· Provincial Election Commissioner, Sindh Member
· Provincial Election Commissioner, Punjab Member
· Joint Secretary, (Elections) Member
· Joint Secretary, (Administration) Member
· Joint Secretary, (Local Govt. Elections) Member
· Director General, (IT) Member
· Section Officer, (Law) Member
The Committee held marathon sessions and examined all Electoral Laws threadbare and formulated some initial Draft Proposals for amending various Election Laws. In order to streamline Recommendations and Suggestions received from different quarters, a Steering Committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Election Commission further reviewed in detail various Election-related Laws. As a result, a “Compendium of Electoral Reforms Proposal” was compiled/summarizing 600 pages from 16 reports and documents by national and international entities from 2006 to 2008. Thus, in all, 318 proposals and recommendations were grouped in 16 categories with proper cross reference to source reports, primary implementers and assessment of required legislation, with a summary of 32 Key Electoral Reform Recommendations.
5. Mr. Dilshad informed that the objectives of reviewing Legal Framework and suggesting Constitutional and Legal Amendments in the Electoral Laws are:
· To strengthen the Election Commission and to enable it to fulfill its Constitutional and legal obligations independently, more efficiently and effectively.
· To make election process more transparent, voter friendly and fair.
· To enhance confidence of stake holders in the independence and efficacy of Election Commission.
· To ensure that Election Commission is capable of meeting future challenges for achieving international standard for genuine democratic elections.
6. He further informed that the Draft of Legal Reforms prepared by Steering Committee was initially reviewed by Hon’ble Chief Election Commissioner himself, who took keen interest in making the whole exercise meaningful and in line with internationally recognized standards of good Electoral Practices. Finally, the Election Commission in its Meeting held on the 6th and 7th March, 2009 at Lahore approved the Proposed Constitutional and Legal Amendments, after their thorough examination, to meet the objectives.
7. Keeping in view above objectives Amendments have been suggested in the following:
|
S. No.
|
Details
|
Amendments in
|
New Insertion suggested
|
|
1
|
Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
|
08
|
01
|
|
2
|
The Electoral Rolls Act 1974
(Act No. XXI of 1974)
|
04
|
--
|
|
3
|
The Delimitation of Constituencies Act, 1974
(Act No. XXIV of 1974)
|
01
|
--
|
|
4
|
The Senate (Election) Act, 1975
( No L1 of 1975)
|
10
|
--
|
|
5
|
The Representation of the People Act, 1976
(LXXXV of 1976)
|
16
|
02
|
|
6
|
The Political Parties Order 2002 Chief Executive’s Order No. 18 of 2002)
|
02
|
--
|
|
7
|
The Presidential Elections Rules 1988.
|
03
|
--
|
8. Kanwar Dilshad concluded that the Recommendations of Election Commission have been hosted on ECP official Website (www.ecp.gov.pk) so that interested parties/stake-holders may be able to see these Recommendations for making Election Process more transparent and voter friendly.
------ *** ------