Constitutional, electoral reforms are need of the hour: NA speaker

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaiser on Thursday said that constitutional and electoral reforms are the need of the hour.
Talking to Information Minister Shibli Faraz and Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry in Islamabad, he said that parliamentary leaders in the NA and Senate will be consulted to form a parliamentary committee to bring reforms.
Speaking on the occasion, Faraz said that it is a joint responsibility of government and opposition to ensure transparency in electoral process through constitutional amendments.
Fawad said that all political parties have always raised reservations over the transparency of Senate elections and now they should come forward for electoral reforms.
This meeting comes a day after it emerged that Prime Minister Imran, in a letter, directed Qaiser to form a inter-party parliamentary committee to discuss electoral reforms and to review the election reforms bill tabled by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government in October 2020.
Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar shared the premier’s letter addressed to the NA speaker in a tweet on Wednesday, wherein PM Imran stressed upon Qaiser the need to form a plan “on how to introduce best practices including the use of technology and introduction of EVMs (electronic voting machines) to strengthen our electoral system and democracy”.
The premier, in the letter, highlighted that the treasury bench had submitted a bill for “meaningful electoral reforms to remove the prevailing stigma attached to our electoral process”.
He underscored that the recent Senate elections had brought to the forefront the prevailing issue of vote buying and selling.
The prime minister highlighted that the government had moved the Supreme Court (SC) in this regard and the judiciary directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to ensure transparent, fair, and free elections and stated that secrecy of the ballot was not absolute”.
Prime Minister Imran lamented the fact that the electoral body had not paid heed to the demands for transparent election and that the SC had not released a verdict in favour of open ballot.
He further said that the cries of rigging were made by the losers of every election, and how this “has now begun to destroy the entire credibility of all elections in Pakistan, casting a shadow of doubt over our entire democratic process as well as the functioning of our parliamentary system”.
“It is in the interest of democracy in Pakistan to establish a credible and transparent electoral system and put an end to all venues that allow for corrupt practices that are eroding our parliamentary democracy,” he maintained.
“I would also suggest a definitive time frame for reaching agreement on all these issues that marred the transparency of our elections so that enough time is given to institute the reforms before the next general elections,” the letter read.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Imran had decided to form a bipartisan committee comprising government and opposition parties to help prepare proposals for constitutional amendments for electoral reforms and also to award provincial status to Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).