ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of
Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar has constituted a three-member SC bench to hear 17 p
etitions, seeking the right of vote for overseas
Pakistanis.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, will take up the pleas on January 10.
The p
etitions, filed under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution, have requested the court to order the government to set up an appropriate
infrastructure enabling the overseas
Pakistanis to cast their votes in the elections held in
Pakistan.
In November 2017, the Election Commission of
Pakistan (ECP) had told a parliamentary committee that overseas
Pakistanis would not be able to cast their votes in the 2018 general elections due t
o unavailability of an appropriate
infrastructure.
According to statistics, at least eig
ht million
Pakistanis live abroad.
In 2013, the then chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had ruled that no legislation was required to give right of vote to the overseas
Pakistanis, adding that elections could not be termed free, fair and impartial unless overseas
Pakistanis were allowed to cast their vote. The ECP was directed to take concrete steps to enable participation of overseas
Pakistanis in the elections.
The order, however, was not implemented as the ECP had been unable to set up an appropriate
infrastructure to enable the overseas
Pakistanis to cast their votes in the general elections held in 2013. The ECP in a recent report submitted in the National Assembly, had admitted that the trial methods used by it (ECP) for voting of overseas
Pakistanis did not prove to be effective, thus more efforts were needed to achieve the appropriate results.
Published in Daily Times, January 6th 2018.
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