Member National Assembly (MNA) Rana Iradat Sharif Khan chaired the meeting of the Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs held in Committee Room No. 2, Parliament House Islamabad. During the meeting, the Committee considered "The Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2024" (Ord. No. V of 2024). The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs briefed the Committee on the proposed amendment to section 140 of the Election Act, 2023. The amendment aims to expedite the settlement of petitions pertaining to elections of the National Assembly, the Senate, Provincial Assemblies, and Local Governments. Due to the workload on serving judges, the proposed amendment seeks to restore the original provision of section 140, making retired High Court judges eligible for appointment as members of the Election Tribunal for hearing election petitions related to the National Assembly, the Senate, and Provincial Assemblies.

Additionally, for local government elections, the amendment proposes making retired district and session judges eligible for appointment as members of the Election Tribunal. After thorough deliberation, the Committee passed the proposed amendment with majority. Besides the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Mr. Azam Nazeer Tarar, the meeting was also attended by MNAs Raja Osama Sarwar, Mr. Shaikh Aftab Ahmed, Mr. Raja Qamar-ul-Islam, Mr. Mahmood Bashir Virk, Mr. Saad Waseem, Syed Ali Musa Gilani, Mr. Malik Shah, Ms. Izbal Zehri, Mr. Naveed Aamir, Ms Nikhat Shakeet Khan, Mr. Sahibzada Sibghatullah,  Mr. Ali Muhammad, Mr. Hameed Hussain, Ms. Shahida Begum, Secretary Ministry of parliamentary affairs and other senior officers of the Ministry.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan