News
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
All united for democracy
* Bill gives cover to suspended MPs
* Gives independence to ECP* Seeks to appoint caretaker PM with PM-opp leader consensus
* Grants authority to parties to fill reserved seats
By Tanveer Ahmed
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed the 20th Constitutional Amendment Bill 2012 following consensus by both the government and opposition, ensuring an impartial caretaker set-up and an independent Election Commission. The bill was passed unopposed with all 247 members voting in favour.
The bill, introduced in the House at the onset of the proceedings by suspending the rules to defer others items on the order of the day, was blocked by the opposition PML-N when at the last minute it sought more time to study the draft bill, which had been passed by the federal cabinet earlier in the day.
On opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan’s suggestions, which were also backed by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, the speaker suspended the House proceedings for 15 minutes to allow time to the treasury and opposition benches. However, the benches returned an hour and a half later after evolving a consensus. The amendments, agreed both by the government and opposition sides, also unanimously sailed through the House with no members opposing it.
The new bill, passed by the House, was a completely changed document from what was introduced at the start of the session that only sought to provide legal cover to the 28 suspended members of the National Assembly, Senate and provincial assemblies, who were elected in the by-polls conducted by an incomplete ECP.
The most striking features of the passed 20th Amendment Bill include formation of a caretaker set-up, three-year increase in tenures of members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), and giving independence to the ECP.
In the case of a caretaker set-up to hold general elections, the bill sought to appoint a caretaker prime minister with mutual agreement of the PM and opposition leader of the outgoing National Assembly.
The bill further stated that in case both fail to evolve a consensus over a nominee for caretaker PM within three days of the dissolution of the National Assembly, they would each nominate two names to the committee to be immediately constituted by the NA speaker, which would comprise eight members from both the outgoing assembly and the Senate – with equal representation from both the treasury and opposition benches – who would be nominated by the prime minister and opposition leader. The bill added that the same procedure would be followed in case of a provincial set-up for chief ministers.
The committee would finalise the name of the caretaker prime minister within three days of the referral of the matter and the same would be followed in provinces, and if the committee is unable to decided on the matter, the nominees would be referred to the ECP for a final decision within two days, it added.
The amendment introduced in the clause of a caretaker set-up was that if opposition members are less than five in parliament and four in any provincial assembly, then all of them would be part of the committee to be constituted for finalising the name of a caretaker PM and chief ministers. The amendment was made part of the bill considering the situation in Sindh and Balochistan – with no opposition leader in the former and a sole opposition member as the leader in the latter.
Another important part of the amendment included granting authority to political parties to fill vacant reserved seats for women and minorities. According to the previous procedure, if a list submitted at the election is exhausted, these seats remained vacant.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk