NA adopts motion to take up bills on election rules, rape in joint Parliament's session    

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Wednesday approved a motion to take up key legislation relating to amendment in election rules, anti-rape bill and others during a joint session of the Parliament, ARY NEWS reported.

According to details, the lower house of the Parliament approved a motion to take up the election ordinance (amendment) bill, election ordinance (second amendment) bill and election ordinance (third amendment) bill before the joint sitting of both the houses.

Speaking on election-related bills, Farogh Naseem said that they included amendments aimed at giving the right of voting to the overseas Pakistanis and the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs).

He said that the overseas Pakistanis have contributed US$29 billion to the country’s economy and denying voting rights to them would be an injustice.

He further denied that no objections were raised during the trial process of the EVMs and clarified that objecting to the process does not come under the domain of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Read More: NA PASSES ELECTION ACT AMENDMENT BILL, GRANTS VOTING RIGHT TO OVERSEAS PAKISTANIS

The motion also called for taking up The International Court of Justice (Review and Reconsideration) Bill, Anti-Rape bill, and National Vocational and Technical Training Commission. (amendment) bill 2021 during the joint sitting of the Parliament.

The National Assembly also adopted two bills presented by Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood that included Higher Education Commission (amendment) bill and Higher Education Commission (second amendment) bill.