Election Commission of Pakistan has sought powers to monitor intra-party elections of political parties and in this respects ECP has sent proposed draft for amendments to Election Act to Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
Amendments were proposed in Sections 202, 208, 209 and 215 of Election Act. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has requested the authority to intervene in the internal affairs of political parties.
According to details surfaced on Saturday, the electoral watchdog has submitted recommendations to the federal government and parliament concerning political parties. The ECP will appoint a monitoring team for the intra-party elections of each political party. The recognition of these elections will depend on the monitoring team’s report.
Under article 208 proposed draft says at the time of holding intra-party elections, a team nominated by the Commission shall observe the election process and prepare a report, proposed amendment. A report on intra-party elections of a political party shall be submitted to Parliament. Under Article 202 no new political party shall be registered after the publication of the election schedule, proposed amendment.
The commission has also proposed strict measures to enforce Section 206 of the Election Act 2017. It recommends imposing fines of up to Rs10 million on parties that fail to allocate five per cent of general seats to women. This action reduced women’s representation in the electoral process.
Amendments to Sections 215 and 216 of the Election Act, related to election symbols, have also been suggested. The commission advised rejecting applications for election symbols submitted after the deadline. Finally, the ECP recommended that no political party should be registered once the election schedule has been announced.