Caretaker govt’s powers: Election Act amendments tabled in parliament

ISLAMABAD: The draft amendments to the Election Act 2017 were tabled in the joint sitting of the parliament for giving additional powers to the upcoming caretaker government, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

The federal government tabled the recommended amendments to the Election Act 2017 for giving additional powers to the caretaker government. It was learnt that 54 amendments and Election Act 2017’s sub-clause 2-A were included to the draft legislation.

Under the amendments, the caretaker government will get power for signing international agreements.

The ECP will be bound to give a verdict on electoral complaints within 30 days, as well as announce the delimitations before unveiling the election schedule.

READ: Electoral reforms committee finalises Election Act amendments

Moreover, a returning officer (RO) will be bound to send a copy of the election results to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) without wasting time and results will not be delayed by 2:00 am.

The presiding officer (PO) will forward the photo of the election results to the RO. In case of issuing results with a delay, the PO will submit solid reasons. Law enforcement agencies will perform duties outside the polling stations.

After the amendments, a political party would face a fine over failure to conduct intra-party elections in the given period.

In case of emergency, the PO can call the security staffers inside the polling station. During the compilation process of the election results, the polling agent of the candidate will be allowed to stay at the RO office.

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After the amendments, the seat will be declared vacant if an elected candidate is not taking the oath. The delimitation process must be completed four months before the elections.

Moreover, an equal number of registered voters will be kept in all constituencies and more than 5% difference in the number of voters will not be allowed. Complaints can be lodged against the delimitations in 30 days.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will be bound to upload details of the polling staff on its website. During the elections, the polling staffers will be banned to perform duties in their own tehsils.

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The election authorities will ensure the secrecy of votes during the installation of security cameras in the polling stations. Election fees of the candidates will be returned in case of rejection or withdrawal of their nomination papers.

The candidates will be allowed to raise objections on the establishment of specific polling stations on the basis of concrete evidence.

For election campaigns, a candidate running for the National Assembly (NA) seat will be allowed to spend Rs4 million to Rs100 million. The candidate running for the provincial assembly’s seat will be allowed to spend Rs2 million to Rs4 million on election campaign.