Senate passes NAB, Elections (Amendment) bills

ISLAMABAD: One day after sailing through the National Assembly, ‘The Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2022’ and ‘The National Accountability (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022’ have been passed from the Senate as well on Friday.

Both the bills were moved by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Javed Abbasi in the House.

Later, the House was adjourned to meet again on Monday at 4:00 p.m.

Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader Azam Nazeer Tarar said neither the right of overseas Pakistanis to vote was removed nor the government would do so. He said the ECP was given the authority regarding vote of the overseas Pakistanis.

Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) leader Dr Shahzad Waseem said nobody would be allowed to rob overseas Pakistanis of their vote. “We will not let anybody bulldoze nine million overseas votes,” he said.

A day ago, the National Assembly had passed “The Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2022” to conduct pilot projects in bye-elections before using I-Voting and Electronic Voting Machines in the general elections.

Speaking on the occasion in the House, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar had rejected the impression that the amendment was aimed at depriving overseas Pakistanis of their right to vote.

He had said overseas Pakistanis were precious asset of the country and the government did not believe in snatching their right to vote.

Under the amendment in Section 94 of the Election Act, 2017, the Commission may conduct pilot projects for voting by Overseas Pakistanis in bye-elections to ascertain the technical efficacy, secrecy, security, and financial feasibility of such voting and shall share the results with the government, which shall, within 15 days from the commencement of a session of a House after the receipt of the report, lay the same before both Houses of the Parliament.

Under Amendment in Section 103 of the Election Act, 2017, the ECP may conduct pilot projects for utilisation of EVMs and biometric verification system in the bye-elections.

The National Assembly had also passed “the National Accountability Bureau (Second Amendment), Bill, 2021” aimed at preventing the misuse of the law for political engineering and victimization of opponents.

Highlighting salient features of the bill, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar had said the NAB law was used for suppressing the voice of political opponents. He had said all the amendments ordered by the superior judiciary from time to time had been accommodated in the new Bill. He had said NAB must complete inquiries within a period of six months.

It is pertinent to mention that the bill proposes that the NAB ordinance will not be applicable to all matters pertaining to federal, provincial or local taxations, decisions of the federal or provincial cabinet and constitutional bodies, as well as procedural lapses in the performance of any public or government work. It states that Chairman and Deputy Chairman of NAB will be appointed by the Federal Government. The Chairman will be appointed by the Federal Government after consultation between the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly. He will hold office for a non-extendable term of three years and shall not be eligible for subsequent appointment as Chairman. On the expiry of the term of the Chairman and till the appointment of the new one, the Deputy Chairman shall act as Chairman, and in his absence, the Federal Government shall appoint an acting Chairman from amongst the senior officers of the NAB.

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The bill further states that an act done in good faith and in discharge of duties and performance of official function shall not constitute an offence. Nothing shall be an offence of misuse of authority unless it is proved through material evidence that the holder of public office has gained any monetary benefit or asset from the person in whose favor the act of misuse of authority has been rendered.

It has been suggested in the bill that Chairman NAB may issue a warrant of arrest during the course of the investigation if the accused is intentionally or willfully not joining the investigation after repeated notices. Under the clauses inserted in the bill, NAB officials have been barred from issuing public statements regarding persons involved in any inquiry or investigation conducted by NAB until a reference has been filed against such persons. It proposed that if an accused has been acquitted by the court on the ground that the case was initiated with malafide intention or based on false or fabricated evidence, the person responsible shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine.

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