ECP prepares draft amendments to Election Act 2017

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has recommended the federal government amend Sections 57(1) and 58 of the Election Act 2017, citing sources, ARY News reported on Monday.

Sources told ARY News that the ECP prepared an amendment draft which will be sent to the secretary of parliamentary affairs. After the proposed amendments, only ECP will be authorised to suggest the polling day under Section 57(1).

Moreover, the amended Section 58 of the Election Act will enable the ECP to issue an election schedule.

Sources said that the amendments will give superior powers to the election commission for announcing the date of the general polls. It will also give powers to the commission for making necessary changes in the different phases of the election programme.

READ: LETTER TO SPEAKER: ECP SUGGESTS AMENDS IN ELECTION LAW

Sources said that the Election Act amendments will enable the ECP to announce a new date of the election and programme after submitting the reasons in written format.

The ECP sources said that the mandate for organising polls is not granted to any institution other than the Election Commission of Pakistan. The ECP will solely decide the finalisation of the election programme after reviewing the situation under Section 218(3).

It added that the president’s announcement for the election date was not in accordance with the Election Act 2017 and the amendments were proposed to remove ambiguity in sections 57(1) and 58.

Earlier in the day, the ECP was not given funds by the federal government for the organisation of the Punjab elections despite the orders of the Supreme Court (SC) which ordered the government to provide Rs21 billion to the commission.

The commission will submit a report to the top court tomorrow. On the other hand, the federal government sought an opinion from the National Assembly (NA) for the disbursement of the election funds.

The federal government also sent the election expenditure bill to the NA today. The bill was forwarded to the NA’s standing committee by the speaker and the next session of the National Assembly will be held on Thursday.