NA committee passes bill to restrict independent candidates joining parties

By Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: The government on Wednesday rushed through a contentious bill aimed at preventing the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party from becoming the single largest party in the National Assembly, sparking fierce protests from the opposition.

The move comes after the Supreme Court’s July 12 ruling, which declared PTI eligible for reserved seats in the National Assembly and provincial assemblies, confirming its status as a parliamentary party.

The government’s haste in introducing the bill has raised suspicions that it aims to undermine the court’s decision.

“The Election (Second Amendment) Bill 2024” seeks to bar independents from joining a political party at a subsequent stage after the period specified for the purpose in the law, besides restraining political parties from submitting a priority list of their candidates for reserved seats after the passage of stipulated timeline.

An 8-4 vote passed the bill at the meeting of National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs held with Rana Iradat Sharif Khan in the chair.

PTI lawmakers vehemently protested the bill, calling it an attempt to subvert the Supreme Court’s decision. “The bill seems to have come with the will of the law minister,” PTI’s Ali Muhammad Khan said. “This is an attempt to pit the parliament against the Supreme Court.”

Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar briefed the committee on the proposed amendment to sections 66 and 106 of the Elections Act 2017 XXXIII of 2017 and the insertion of Section 104A in the Act. He said the amendment aims to provide clarity in the law according to the true spirit of the Constitution.

Tarar defended the bill, saying “lawmaking is the job of parliament, and courts can only interpret the Constitution. Parliament can enact a law where it sees its jurisdiction is being encroached upon and the Constitution is being re-written.”

Earlier this month, the top court ruled that the party of jailed Khan is eligible for reserved seats in parliament, a landmark verdict that piles pressure on the fragile ruling coalition of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The court’s decision means Khan’s PTI party is entitled to over 20 extra seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.

The party had contested the February 8 general elections as independents after the party was stripped of its election symbol of the cricket bat by the ECP on the technical grounds that it did not hold intra-party elections, a prerequisite for any party to take part in polls. Khan-backed candidates, however, won the most seats. But, the election commission ruled they were ineligible for the 70 reserved seats for women and minorities, which are allocated to political parties only.

After the election, the PTI-backed candidates were forced to join Sunni Ittehad Council, or SIC, party to claim a share of 70 reserved seats as independents are not eligible for the extra seats. The seats were later allotted to other parties, mostly from those in Sharif’s ruling coalition.