Opposition and ruling party unanimously pass the 20th amendment

Opposition and ruling party unanimously pass the 20^th amendment

After a tempestuous debate between the opposition parties and ruling party, the 20^th Constitutional Amendment was collectively passed from the National Assembly. This amendment is the third by the current government that has shared its aim to
hold free and fair elections in the future.

The Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said in front of the 247 members from both government and opposition that, “The passage of the 20th Constitutional Amendment has strengthened democracy.”

All 247 members present in the house voted in favour of the amended version of the bill that included three alterations suggested by the opposition and not a single member voted against it.

“Free, fair and transparent elections in the country for future generations have been ensured today,” said Gilani to the parliamentarians.

While arguing features of the amendment, Gilani added, “We have all suffered but from now on there will not be any imported caretaker prime minister in this country.”

The bill was introduced by Law Minister Maula Bakhsh Chandio while PML-N leader Chaudhary Nisar Ali khan stressed that it was not an easy task. “The government had committed to consult us for finalisation of the concept draft which we agreed five days ago,
but it did not happen,” he said.

Nisar expressed that the amendment should not be made to entertain a single party, but for the future generation as the NA had “given the Election Commission of Pakistan such powers which has no parallel in the world.”

In a previous meeting Nisar said, “We have agreed about the new Chief Election Commissioner, that no extension can be given to the Commissioner under the constitution, this was clear in the 18th amendment.”

The government established 10 clauses but the opposition added three amendments and suggested a new clause, all of which were accepted by the government.

In the past, the amendment was subject to provide legal protection to 28 members of the parliament, who were suspended because they were elected between April 2010 and July 2011, when the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was incomplete. However, the
opposition party slipped in their demands also.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=12803

Posted by Mursil Mehmood Butt on Feb 15 2012. Filed under Latest News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry