The bill proposing amendments to the Elections Act 2017 was approved by the National Assembly despite strong protests by the opposition.
Tabled by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Bilal Azhar Kiyani, the bill, once it comes it effect, will bar the politicians from changing their party affiliation.The bill will prevent the political leaders, who contested the February 8 elections as independent candidates, from changing their affidavit at a later stage to declare affiliation with any political party.
The development came after the Supreme Court’s July 12 ruling which had declared the Imran Khan-founded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) eligible for reserved seats.
In its amendment to Section 66 of the Elections Act, the bill says that if a candidate does not submit a declaration of his affiliation with a political party to the returning officer (RO) before seeking allotment of the election symbol, they shall be “deemed to be considered as an independent candidate and not a candidate of any political party”.
Meanwhile, the amendment to Section 104 reads that if a political party fails to submit its list for reserved seats within the prescribed time period, it will not be eligible for reserved seats at any later stage.
Furthermore, it adds a new provision to the original legislation titled Section 104A which declares the consent or affidavit of an independent candidate regarding joining a political party “irrevocable” and prohibits its withdrawal and substitution.
The legislation argues that “neither the Constitution nor the Elections Act, 2017 provides for joining a political party by an independent returned candidate or candidates at a subsequent stage when they have already exercised the option to join the political party at a point in time as specified in the Constitution”.
Experts and lawyers were divided over the bill, with some saying that it would be struck down once the matter is taken up in the court, while others saying that it was in line with the law.
Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development And Transparency (Pildat) Executive Director Ahmed Bilal Mehboob said the bill was unique in nature as it did not introduce a new thing, rather it only endorsed the things already present in the law.
