The government has initiated new legislation concerning reserved seats. The National Assembly presented a modification invoice to the Election Act 2017. The bill states that an affidavit maintaining affiliation with any political party cannot be changed, and parties that don’t publish a list for reserved seats will not be allotted such seats. The House referred the invoice to the relevant status committee.
Details of the Legislation
The amendment invoice to the Election Act 2017 was supplied through PML-N’s Bilal Azhar Kayani. On the advice of Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar. The Speaker of the National Assembly referred the invoice to the applicable status committee for additional attention. The opposition opposed the bill, chanting “no, no” slogans.
Key Points of the Bill
The bill states that an independent member can join any party within three days as per the constitution, but after that, they cannot join another party. Another proposed amendment specifies that parties must submit a list of reserved seats to be allocated. The bill suggests that independent candidates cannot join political parties again after the specified period. Parties failing to submit the reserved seats list within the stipulated time will not be eligible for reserved seats. The bill also states that the returning officer will consider candidates who do not submit an affidavit of party affiliation as independent.
Other Parliamentary Proceedings
The House also approved the establishment of the National Excellence Institute. In response to a call attention notice. Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar mentioned that the government has initiated a Prime Minister’s program for hepatitis treatment with a budget of 35 billion rupees. In PIMS, they conducted 90,000 tests in a year and identified 3,664 positive cases, providing them with medication.
Discussion on Finality of Prophethood
In the National Assembly, both government and opposition members expressed that there is no room for disagreement on the finality of Prophethood and that their belief is absolute. They called for a review of the Supreme Court’s decision and suggested that the parliament reject the judges’ opinion. On a point of order, Sahibzada Hamid Raza stated that the Supreme Court has the authority to interpret but not to rewrite the written clauses.
Other Assembly Proceedings
Ali Muhammad Khan, a member of the Assembly, suggested forming a parliamentary committee to work on the Supreme Court’s decision until it is reviewed. Qadir Patel from PPP argued against discussing the issue and stated there is no need for a committee. JUI-F’s Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri questioned the judges’ authority to amend the constitution and called for an immediate resolution. The Law Minister emphasized that all members should read the Supreme Court’s decision and join the committee if they wish. The Speaker referred the matter to the standing committee on law and ordered an immediate meeting to address the issue.
