• Rules suspended to help passage of bill; minister says legislation prerogative of lawmakers, not ‘17 individuals’
• PTI up in arms; says assemblies turned into ‘rubber stamp’, vows to approach apex court
• Law will have retrospective effect; govt-ally MQM-P terms bill ‘attempt to pitch parliament against judiciary’

ISLAMABAD: The government on Tuesday bulldozed a controversial election law, apparently aimed at circumventing the Supreme Court verdict on reserved seats and sap the expected strength of PTI in parliament, through both houses of parliament.

The law passed despite fierce protest by PTI members, who later announced their intention to approach the top court against the move.

Besides the opposition, Dr Farooq Sattar of the MQM-P, a key ally in the ruling coalition, also decried the “bulldozing” of the legislation, lamenting that his party was not consulted by the ruling PML-N regarding the move, which he declared an attempt to pitch the parliament against the judiciary.

The Election (2nd Amendment) Bill 2024 was first passed by the National Assembly as the opposition members raised slogans, waved placards and tore apart copies of the bill in front of the speaker’s dais.

In the evening, the bill was also rushed through the Senate as a part of the supplementary agenda.

The bill was passed in both houses after the suspension of the rules, without any debate on the issue.

Though the bill was considered by the National Assembly’s standing committee, it was passed in the Senate without being referred to the committee concerned as required under the rules and the parliamentary traditions. The bill, which had been passed with two amendments in the National Assembly, was introduced in the Senate by PML-N’s Talal Chaudhry.

When the opposition termed the bill “unconstitutional, illegal and an attack on the judiciary”, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar claimed that the legislation had been done in accordance with the constitutional scheme and in line with Article 51 and Article 106.

Speaking in the Senate, the minister said it was the right of parliament to legislate. “We cannot give this right to 17 individuals,” the minister said, an apparent reference to SC judges. He said there was a difference between the interpretation of the Constitution and re-writing the Green Book.

Opposing the bill in the Senate, Opposition Leader Shibli Faraz termed it a direct attack on the SC.

When PTI’s parliamentary leader Ali Zafar rose in his seat to speak on the bill after its passage, the treasury members started leaving the house and PML-N’s Nasir Mehmood pointed out the lack of quorum, compelling Chairman Yousuf Raza Gilani to adjo­urn the sitting till Friday.

Fireworks in NA

Earlier, the National Assembly witnessed an eventful day as besides passage of the election law, the house also saw the introduction of five other private member’s bills and passage of a resolution on the Kashmir issue. The members of the PTI gathered in front of the speaker’s dais and raised slogans, like “say no to fake government” and “attack on judiciary unacceptable”.

Later, the house witnessed fiery speeches with members on both sides of the aisle hitting out at each other’s leadership and even making some personal attacks.

PTI’s Ali Muhammad Khan and Sibghatullah moved separate amendme­nts to the controversial ele­ction law demanding that the bill should be referred to a select committee but both of them were rejected by the house thro­ugh a voice vote. On the other hand, two amendments moved by the PML-N’s Bilal Azhar Kayani were incorporated into the bill.

PTI’s Sibghatullah said the government had managed passage of the bill through the standing committee of the house in haste and on the basis of its num­erical strength. He said the government had done this legislation with a “mala fi­­de” intent and the SC wou­ld declare it null and void.

PTI leader, Mr Khan, alleged that parliament was being used by a political party to attack the judiciary. He said the PTI had got its right through the SC verdict and it could not be deprived of it through such legislation.

The government faced an embarrassing situation when MQM’s Dr Farooq Sattar also accused it of “bulldozing” the legislation. He was also of the view that the government had brought the law to counter and circumvent the SC’s July 12 decision giving reserved seats to the PTI. He said a majority of the members of the house believed that the SC decision was controversial, but the confrontation among the institutions should come to an end.

“What will the government do when the SC will strike it down? What will be the next step?” asked Dr Sattar. He termed it the “worst legislation”.

‘SC will put it aside’

Taking the floor on a point of order, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar regretted that the present assembly had so far passed nine bills and all of them were passed after suspending the rules. He said the SC always had a “final word” on the matters. He said the parliament was supreme and could do legislation, but it was the SC which could interpret it and its interpretation could not be set aside.

“We will challenge this law in the SC which will put it set aside,” declared the PTI chairman.

“It is better for [PM] Shehbaz Sharif to talk to [former Bangladesh PM] Hasina Wajid to find the route to escape,” he said in reference to the situation in Bangladesh.

PTI’s Zartaj Gul spoke about the alleged political victimisation of her party, alleging that over 10,000 PTI workers had been picked up and women members were in jails. She also criticised the government for using the parliament as a “rubber stamp”.

Interestingly, the most forceful defence of the controversial law came from PPP’s Shazia Marri who made an emotional speech in which she targeted PTI chairman Imran Khan, prompting noisy protests and an exchange of hot words with the opposition.

She also criticised the judiciary for allegedly trespassing the parliament’s domain, declaring that they would not allow the judiciary to rewrite the constitution which was the sole prerogative of the parliament.

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Lashing out at the PTI for allegedly trolling its opponents on social media, she said they would not allow anyone to do “digital terrorism” and asked the PTI to apologise over the May 9 violent protests. Without elaborating, she said those who had brought the PTI into power were also perturbed over its politics based on hatred.

Sahibzada Hamid Raza of the Sunni Ittehad Coun­cil responded to Ms Marri’s speech and ter­med her remarks a “replay of the press conference done by the DG of the ISPR” a couple of days back.

Contents of the bill

The bill, which will become an act of parliament after the president’s assent, proposes amendments to the Election Law 2017, suggesting that a political party should not be allocated seats reserved for women and non-Muslim candidates if they fail to submit its list for the reserved seats within the prescribed time.

The law is designed to have retrospective effect, i.e. it will come into force from 2017, when the original Elections Act was passed into law.

Another amendment says that candidates should be considered independent lawmakers if they had not filed a declaration with the returning officer about their affiliation with a particular political party before seeking the allotment of a poll symbol.

The amendments to sections 66 and 104, originally moved by PML-N lawmaker Bilal Azhar Kiyani in the National Assembly, also included a declaration that the proposed amendments would take precedence over court orders, including the Supreme Court.

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2024