President Dr. Arif Alvi has once again sent back the election amendment bill believing it to be “regressive” in nature and has urged parliament that use of technology be allowed in the elections.
In an official statement through the president’s secretariat, it was revealed that Dr. Alvi had not signed the bill even though the constitution would make it into law.
The president, while invoking Article 75(2) of the constitution, said that it was “very painful” for him as the head of state to not sign a bill passed by the parliament.
For posterity’s sake, the president gave the reasons for not signing the bill, and said that the laws were regressive and he strongly believed in technology. He stated that electronic voting machines, when used judiciously would resolve the issues resulting from the confusion, discord and accusation in the “ever-marred” election processes.
The president said that technology could improve transparency and make elections inclusive with overseas Pakistanis’ vote.
He added that the present and future governments and parliaments would face two choices, whether to enable the past to drag Pakistan or allow lessons learnt from the past along with technologies of today to push the country towards a bright and dynamic future.
The president had earlier returned the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2022, and National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2022 on June 4.
A joint session of the parliament on June 9 had passed both bills sent back by the president.
The bill on elections abolished the usage of electronic voting machines (EVMs) during elections, while the bill pertaining to NAB, inter-alia, put forth a post-retirement process for its chairman.
Both the bills were presented by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarrar, which the president had sent back to Prime Minister Shehbaz as he was not informed about the legislative proposal under Article 46 of the constitution before it was moved in the parliament.
The bill, following the approval of the joint sitting, will be sent to the president again, and if he does not sign them within 10 days, they will deemed to have been given assent as per Article 75(2) of the constitution.
Today is the tenth day since the bill was approved again by the parliament and it has been sent back by the president.
