Islamabad: The Senate has approved amendments to the Election Act 2017 and the Leader of the House, under the leadership of Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, called for a session in which Minister of State Shahadat Awan presented the bill for the amendment to the Election Act 2017, which was approved by a majority vote.
According to the bill, amendments have been made to Section 57 of the Election Act, which empowers the Election Commission to announce a new schedule for general elections, as well as allow for amendments to the election program.
As per the text of the bill, for offenses that do not have a prescribed punishment in the constitution, the disqualification period will not exceed five years.
The criteria, procedure, and duration for eligibility and disqualification will be as provided in Articles 62 and 63 of the constitution, and where the constitution does not provide any criteria, procedure, or duration, the provisions of this act will apply.
According to the mentioned bill, a person who has been convicted as per a Supreme Court, High Court, or any other court’s verdict, order, or judgment can be disqualified for a period of five years from the day of the decision.
In the Senate, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-e-Islami opposed the amendment bill to the Election Act 2017.
On the other hand, during the Senate session, the bill for the allowances of the Leader of the House, the Opposition Leader, and the members was also approved, which was presented in the Senate by Senators Kahda Babar, Manzoor Ahmed, Raza Rabbani, and others.