Election law amendment does not deprive overseas Pakistanis of right to vote: IHC CJ

Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah on Wednesday said that none of the amendments made to the Elections Act, 2017 by the incumbent coalition government deprived overseas Pakistanis of the right to vote. He made the observation while hearing a petition filed against the passage of the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2022 which disallows overseas Pakistanis from voting electronically. The petition, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, was filed by solicitor Dawood Ghazanavi and dual national Atif Iqbal Khan.The federation of Pakistan through the secretary of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) have been made respondents in the case. On May 26, the National Assembly passed two crucial bills — Elections (Amendment) Bill 2022 and National Accoun­tability (Second Amend­ment) Bill — which reversed the election laws by the previous Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government regarding the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and i-voting for overseas Pakistanis and the clipping the vast powers of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The bills were passed by the Senate a day later. The petitioners said they had approached the Supreme Court for the fundamental right of vote for overseas Pakistanis after which “an authoritative judgement was passed”…Source: dawn.com