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Dar chairs meeting of electoral reforms committee, seeks PTI’s input
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Finance Senator Ishaq Dar chaired a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms here Wednesday with the members discussing progress of work undertaken by the sub-committee headed by Zahid Hamid on the electoral reforms process.
The chair while appreciating the hard work undertaken by the sub-committee called upon it to meet frequently and formulate its recommendations in each session covering specific areas and added that the main committee could simultaneously review the work done to save time.
The minister also called upon members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to attend sessions of the committee and put forth their useful input for electoral reforms.
The sub-committee had been assigned the task to review existing electoral laws and over 1200 proposals received from various quarters in this regard.
Zahid Hamid apprised the meeting that out of six laws related to the election process five had so far been reviewed by the sub-committee and recommendations were being formulated for presentation to the main committee.
He said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should also put forth its valuable suggestions for the purpose of improving the system of general elections.
The chair with consensus of the house directed the Election Commission to actively engage with the sub-committee and share with it the exercise they (ECP) had undertaken for drafting a law for improvement in the election system.
On a question from the members the chair asked the ECP to categorically clarify once and for all the doubts expressed by certain quarters that they had printed ballot papers through a private party.
The Secretary Election Commission responded that the Commission had in previous meetings strongly rebutted this allegation and categorically denied it again. The printing of the ballot papers was carried out at the Printing Corporation of Pakistan under strict security and vigilance by the military personnel.
All the members were unanimous that they fully supported an independent and powerful Election Commission which had the authority to implement its mandate.
Zahid Hamid also informed the meeting that it was looking into proposals regarding introduction of latest technology for casting votes (use of electronic voting machines and biometric verification) the criteria for scrutinizing the nomination papers of the election candidates (under Articles 62 63) voting rights to overseas Pakistanis and other matters.
He said all matters would be thoroughly discussed to formulate concrete recommendations.
The sub-committee also discussed the option for the ECP undertaking a pilot project regarding use of the latest technology in the elections.
Courtesy www.thenews.com.pk