National Assembly
The National Assembly of Pakistan has passed the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which reinstates the original provision allowing retired High Court judges to be appointed as members of Election Tribunals.
This move has been met with opposition protests, as the previous legislation had replaced retired judges with sitting judges on these tribunals.
However, the ruling PML-N government successfully pushed the bill through with a majority vote.
The key change brought about by this amendment is the restoration of Section 140 of the Election Act, 2017, which permits the appointment of retired High Court judges to Election Tribunals.
This provision was previously amended in 2023 to require only serving High Court judges to be appointed to these tribunals.
However, this change overlooked the significant workload and backlog of cases faced by High Courts, leaving serving judges with limited time to dedicate to the swift adjudication of election petitions.
The reinstatement of the original provision aims to address this issue by making retired High Court judges eligible for appointment to Election Tribunals, in addition to serving judges.
This move is expected to enable more efficient and timely resolution of election-related disputes, without overburdening the active High Court judiciary.
The amendment also seeks to ensure consistency by making retired District and Sessions Judges and retired Additional District and Sessions Judges eligible for appointment as members of Election Tribunals for hearing election petitions related to local government elections.
This change aims to streamline the process of resolving election-related disputes and ensure that the judiciary is not overwhelmed by the workload.
The passage of the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2024, marks a significant development in Pakistan’s electoral landscape, and its implications will be closely watched by political observers and legal experts alike.
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