- President Alvi convenes Joint Session of Parliament to meet today
- Govt upbeat after winning support of allies on electoral reforms
ISLAMABAD: Stage is set for a decisive battle between the treasury and the opposition benches over the electoral reform bills today as key legislation is going to be tabled at today’s Joint Session of the Parliament.
President Arif Alvi Tuesday summoned the joint session of the Parliament to meet today (Wednesday) at 12pm as the government eyes passing several bills, with the Opposition all geared up to oppose the bid.
The joint sitting has been convened as the government continues its efforts to coax political allies — the PML-Q and the MQM-P — to rein in their support for the bills it plans to table on the electronic voting machines (EVMs), NAB, and other issues.
Prime Minister Imran Khan seems confident about becoming successful in getting the bills proposed by the government approved at the joint session.
Taking to his official Instagram account, the premier shared a video in which he could be seen speaking about the session tomorrow: “A sportsman is always sure about winning right from the moment he puts his foot in the field.”
Separately, speaking at a ceremony earlier today, he had said he finds it surprising the Opposition is fearful of a machine, referring to the EVMs the government aims to introduce prior to the next general elections so voting can take place “transparently”.
“I am surprised to see the Opposition [resist technology], insisting that voting take place traditionally,” the prime minister said.
The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which landed in hot water last week after its allies expressed reservations whether the next general elections in the country should be held through the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), has finally won back their support on electoral reforms after they met Prime Minister Imran Khan.
“We have earlier voted in favour of the electoral reform bill and it has already been passed from the National Assembly,” Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA)’s Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Fehmida Mirza told media.
“It would be odd to do the opposite this time around,” she added.
Verbally, the IPC minister said, everyone is in favour of using technology in the polls but the reservations of allies came as they have not been given presentations on the EVMs.
“The MQM has also been given a presentation on EVM,” Fehmida said, adding that the MQM-P members said that they would give suggestions on the electoral reforms soon.
On the deadlock between the government and allies, Fehmida said that the federal cabinet has long been discussing the matter but proper presentations were not given to the allied parties and it led to creating some distance between the government and the allies.
Speaking about reservations, Fehmida said that GDA wants the federal government to play more role in Sindh as the provincial government has left no stone unturned in destroying Sindh. She said the GDA also wants representation in the standing committees.
About the opposition parties’ allegations that the government had support from the quarters concerned, Fehmida said that if the government and its allies had the support, why they would go for ensuring transparency in the polls.
“The opposition’s statements are contradictory … if we had the support then there was no need to take a step for ensuring transparency in the elections,” Fehmida said. “The GDA would stand by the government and vote for the electoral reform bills.”
PML-Q’s Federal Minister for Housing and Works Tariq Bashir Cheema remained tight-lipped over the issue while MQM’s Amin-ul-Haq said his party would support the key legislation.
Haq said that the MQM-P has extended its support as the federal government has ensured to table two more bills.
The bills related to the construction of Hyderabad University and Census will be tabled along with the EVMs, he added.
Following the meeting with allies, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said that PM Imran Khan had addressed the reservations of the coalition partners and evolved a consensus on the matter of electoral reforms.
“All allied parties have expressed full confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan,” Chaudhry said, adding that it was unanimously decided that the joint session would be summoned on Wednesday.
“All electoral bills will be tabled and allied parties will support them,” he said.
Last week, the beleaguered government tasted defeat twice in the National Assembly during voting on two bills and, later on, it had to put off the joint session of parliament within 24 hours of its summoning after its allies maintained distance. Since then, the opposition parties have exerted pressure on the government and are devising strategies for countering the government in the joint sitting.
Soon after the “moral victory” over the government, the leader of the opposition in NA Shehbaz Sharif had invited the opposition parties to a dinner at the Parliament House where he along with other opposition leaders had vowed to give a tough time to the government in and outside parliament over spiraling inflation, increasing poverty and “bad governance”.
Though the PPP and the ANP had parted ways with the opposition parties’ alliance – the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) – the opposition leader has been trying to keep the opposition parties united against the government when they would go for changing the voting system of the country today (Wednesday).
