26th constitutional amendment bill unaddressed due to uproar in National Assembly

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly (NA) on Wednesday could not take up the motion for the passage of the Constitution (Twenty-sixth Amendment) Bill, 2020 amid the Opposition’s protest in the house.

Minister for Law and Justice Farogh Naseem moved the bill as approved by the relevant standing committee.

The bill mainly seeks Senate elections through open ballot, however, the house did not take up the motion for its passage due to the protest of opposition lawmakers.

Naseem was asked by Speaker Asad Qaisar to speak about the salient features of the 26th constitutional amendment bill, but he could hardly do so amid loud sloganeering from the opposition.

Responding to the opposition’s criticism, he said: “The Senate elections should be held through open ballot and we are amending the Constitution, not stealing the election.”

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan said the PTI and its coalition parties were the only ones that had made practical efforts to end the involvement of money in the the Senate elections by bringing a constitutional amendment.

He said despite Charter of Democracy signed by the leaders of PPP and PML-N, their party members were running away from the proposal to conduct the Senate polls through open ballot.

Awan said the lawmakers would not be able to cast their votes against the party to which they belonged to after the amendment.

Amendment for dual nationality holders

He said another amendment, the government sought to bring in — Article 63(1)(c) — would allow Pakistanis holding dual nationalities to contest elections.

He said the proposed bill stated that dual nationals could not be left "remedy-less" by asking them to first renounce their second nationality before contesting the elections in Pakistan.

Therefore, they would be required to renounce their citizenship of the foreign country before taking the oath of office, if elected.

Murad Saeed says Opposition lacks 'courage'

Minister for Communications Murad Saeed said opposition did not have courage to tolerate criticism.

He said those talking about the interests of people had not only planned to privatise the Pakistan International Airlines but to handover Pakistan Steel Mills free of charge in their tenures.

He said Ahsan Iqbal failed to answer the five questions raised by him while his brother earned commission as Shehbaz Sharif awarded contracts to him.

He said 26th amendment would bring transparency in the Senate elections.

Parliamentarians must address public issues rather than protecting their vested interests, Murad Saeed said, adding this house would run for legislation according to the mandate given by the people of the country.