Parliament passes electoral reforms and amendments to NAB ordinance bills

Islamabad: The joint session of the parliament passed the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and the National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2022 on Thursday.

The government had convened the joint sitting to consider the two bills, which had been passed by the two houses of the parliament but eventually sent back by President Dr Arif Alvi for reconsideration.

The bills will now be presented to the president once again for his assent. If the president does not give his approval within 10 days, it would be deemed to have been given.

During today's joint sitting, Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar presented both the bills and read them out clause by clause for approval. While presenting the bills, the minister alleged that the president had returned them in order to cater to the whims of the political party he was affiliated with.

He highlighted that there was no provision in the Constitution which bound parliament to consider the amendments suggested by the president. However, one of the amendments suggested by the president -- where the NAB chairman could declare any place as a sub-jail --was included in the bill seeking to amend the NAB ordinance.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said the bills were passed after holding a thorough debate in both houses of parliament.

During the session, Jamaat-i-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan proposed an amendment seeking reserved seats for overseas Pakistanis in the National Assembly and Senate.

He also proposed that a seat be declared vacant if a lawmaker did not take oath within 120 days of his election. However, both the amendments were rejected.

Later, NA Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf adjourned the sitting till July 20.