In Pakistan, parliamentary committee considers changes to laws governing political parties

The PTI registered its protest as a National Assembly committee on Wednesday approved a bill proposing amendments to the election law, suggesting that a political party should not be allocated seats reserved for women and non-Muslim candidates if it failed to submit its list for the reserved seats within the prescribed time. [ . . . ] Another amendment proposed to the Elections Act 2017 in the bill said that a candidate should be considered an independent lawmaker if they had not filed a declaration with the returning officer about their affiliation with a particular political party before seeking the allotment of a poll symbol. Similarly, it also said that an independent candidate shall not be considered a candidate of any political party if, at a later stage, they filed a statement to that effect. The amendments to sections 66 and 104 also included a declaration that the proposed amendments would take precedence over court orders, including the Supreme Court. Some political observers are seeing the controversial bill as a move to frustrate the Supreme Court judgement on July 12, which had declared the PTI eligible for reserved seats in the National Assembly and provincial assemblies and also confirmed its status as a parliamentary party.
Read the full article here: Daily Times