Monday 8 February 2016

Chapter 2: "Electoral Laws and Conduct of Elections" of Part VIII: "Elections"

Part VIII: Elections

Chapter 2: Electoral Laws and Conduct of Elections

222 Electoral laws.
Subject to the Constitution,  577[Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)] 577 may by law provide for:
(a) the allocation of seats in the National Assembly as required by clauses (3) and (4) of Article 51;
(b) the delimitation of constituencies by the Election Commission;
(c) the preparation of electoral rolls, the requirements as to residence in a constituency, the determination of objections pertaining to and the commencement of electoral rolls;
(d) the conduct of elections and election petitions; the decision of doubts and disputes arising in connection with elections;
(e) matters relating to corrupt practices and other offences in connection with elections; and
(f) all other matters necessary for the due constitution of the two Houses and the Provincial Assemblies;
but no such law shall have the effect of taking away or abridging any of the powers of the Commissioner or an Election Commission under this Part.
 
223 Bar against double membership.
(1) No person shall, at the same time, be a member of,
(a) both Houses; or
(b) a House and a Provincial Assembly; or
(c) the Assemblies of two or more Provinces; or
(d) a House or a Provincial Assembly in respect of more than one seat.
 
(2) Nothing in clause (1) shall prevent a person from being a candidate for two or more seats at the same time, whether in the same body or in different bodies, but if he is elected to more than one seat he shall, within a period of thirty days after the declaration of the result for the last such seat, resign all but one of his seats, and if he does not so resign, all the seats to which he has been elected shall become vacant at the expiration of the said period of thirty days except the seat to which he has been elected last or, if he has been elected to more than one seat on the same day, the seat for election to which his nomination was filed last.
Explanation:- In this clause, "body" means either House or a Provincial Assembly.
 
(3) A person to whom clause (2) applies shall not take a seat in either House or the Provincial Assembly to which he has been elected until he has resigned all but one of his seats.
 
(4) Subject to clause (2), if a member of either House or of a Provincial Assembly becomes a candidate for a second seat which, in accordance with clause (1), he may not hold concurrently with his first seat, then his first seat shall become vacant as soon as he is elected to the second seat.
 
 
224 Time of election and by-election.
 578[
(1) A general election to the National Assembly or a Provincial Assembly shall be held within a period of sixty days immediately following the day on which the day on which the term of the Assembly is due to expire, unless the Assembly has been sooner dissolved, and the results of the election shall be declared not later than fourteen days before that day.
 
] 578 582[
(1A) On dissolution of the Assembly on completion of its term, or in case it is dissolved under Article 58 or Article 112, the President, or the Governor, as the case may be, shall appoint a care-taker Cabinet:
Provided that the care-taker Prime Minister shall be  583[appointed] 583 by the President in consultation with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing National Assembly, and a care-taker Chief Minister shall be appointed by the Governor in consultation with the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Provincial Assmembly:
 584[Provided further that if the Prime Minister or a Chief Minister and their respective Leader of the Opposition do not agree on any person to be appointed as a care-taker Prime Minister or the care-taker Chief Minister, as the case may be, the provisions of Article 224A shall be followed:] 584
Provided  585[also] 585 that the Members of the Federal and Pronvicial care-taker Cabinets shall be appointed on the advice of the care-taker Prime Minister or the care-taker Chief Minister, as the case may be.
 
(1B) Members of the care-taker Cabinets including the care-taker Prime Minister and the care-taker Chief Minister and their immediate family members shall not be eligible to contest the immediately following elections to such Assemblies.
Explanation:- In this clause "immediate family members" means spouse and children.
 
] 582
(2) When the National Assembly or a Provincial Assembly is dissolved, a general election to the Assembly shall be held within a period of ninety days after the dissolution, and the results of the election shall be declared not later than fourteen days after the conclusion of the polls.
 
(3) An election to fill the seats in the Senate which are to become vacant on the expiration of the term of the members of the Senate shall be held not earlier than thirty days immediately preceding the day on which the vacancies are due to occur.
 
(4) When, except by dissolution of the National Assembly or a Provincial Assembly, a  586[] 586 seat in any such Assembly has become vacant not later than one hundred and twenty days before the term of that Assembly is due to expire, an election to fill the seat shall be held within sixty days from the occurrence of the vacancy.
 
(5) When a seat in the Senate has become vacant, an election to fill the seat shall be held within thirty days from the occurrence of the vacancy.
 
 588[] 588 590[
(6) When a seat reserved for women or non-Muslims in the National Assembly or a Provincial Assembly falls vacant, on account of death, resignation or disqualification of a member, it shall be filled by the next person in order of precedence from the party list of the candidates to be submitted to the Election Commission by the political party whose member has vacated such seat 591[:] 591
 592[Provided that if at any time the party list is exhausted, the concerned political party may submit a name for any vacancy which may occur thereafter. ] 592
 
] 590
 
 593[
224A. Resolution by Committee or Election Commission.
(1) In case the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing National Assembly do not agree on any person to be appointed as the care-taker Prime Minister, within three days of the dissolution of the National Assembly, they shall forward two nominees each to a Committee to be immediately constituted by the Speaker of the National Assembly, comprising eight members of the outgoing National Assembly, or the Senate, or both, having equal representation from the Treasury and the Opposition, to be nominated by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition respectively.
 
(2) In case a Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Provincial Assembly do not agree on any person to be appointed as the care-taker Chief Minister, within three days of the dissolution of that Assembly, they shall forward two nominees each to a Committee to be immediately constituted by the Speaker of the Provincial Assembly, comprising six members of the outgoing Provincial Assembly having equal representation from the Treasury and the Opposition, to be nominated by the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition respectively.
 
(3) The Committee constituted under clause (1) or (2) shall finalize the name of the care-taker Prime Minister or care-taker Chief Minister, as the case may be, within three days of the referral of the matter to it:
Provided that in case of inability of the Committee to decide the matter in the aforesaid period, the names of the nominees shall be referred to the Election Commission of Pakistan for final decision within two days.
 
(4) The incumbent Prime Minister and the incumbent Chief Minister shall continue to hold office till appointment of the care-taker Prime Minister and the care-taker Chief Minister, as the case may be.
 
(5) Notwithstanding anything contained in clauses (1) and (2), if the members of the Opposition are less than five in the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) and less than four in any Provincial Assembly, then all of them shall be members of the Committee mentioned in the aforesaid clauses and the Committee shall be deemed to be duly constituted.
 
 
] 593
225 Election dispute.
No election to a House or a Provincial Assembly shall be called in question except by an election petition presented to such tribunal and in such manner as may be determined by Act of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament).
 
 594[
226. Election by secret ballot.-
All elections under the Constitution, other than those of the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister, shall be by secret ballot.
 
] 594

Notes

577   Substituted by Revival of Constitution of 1973 Order, 1985 (President's Order No. 14 of 1985), Art 2, Sch. item 1 (with effect from March 2, 1985) for "Parliament".
578   Substituted by Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010, Section 83(i) (with effect from April 19, 2010) for :
(1) A general election to the National Assembly or a Provincial Assembly shall be held within a period of sixty days immediately  579[following] 579 the day on which the term of the Assembly is due to expire, unless the Assembly has been sooner dissolved, and the results of the election shall be declared not later than fourteen days before that day 580[:] 580
 581[Provided that on dissolution of an Assembly on completion of its term, the President, in his discretion, or, as the case may be, the Governor, in his discretion but with the previous approval of the President, shall appoint a care-taker Cabinet.] 581
 
579   Substituted by Legal Framework Order, 2002 (Chief Executive's Order No. 24 of 2002), Article 3(1), Sch. item 22(a)(i) (with effect from August 21, 2002) for "preceding".
580   Substituted by Legal Framework Order, 2002 (Chief Executive's Order No. 24 of 2002), Article 3(1), Sch. item 22(a)(ii) (with effect from August 21, 2002) for ".".
581   Inserted by Legal Framework Order, 2002 (Chief Executive's Order No. 24 of 2002), Article 3(1), Sch. item 22(a)(ii) (with effect from August 21, 2002).
582   Inserted by Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010, Section 83(ii) (with effect from April 19, 2010).
583   Substituted by Constitution (Twentieth Amendment) Act, 2012, Section 8(a)(i) (with effect from February 28, 2012) for "selected".
584   Inserted by Constitution (Twentieth Amendment) Act, 2012, Section 8(a)(ii) (with effect from February 28, 2012).
585   Substituted by Constitution (Twentieth Amendment) Act, 2012, Section 8(a)(iii) (with effect from February 28, 2012) for "further".
586   The following was omitted by Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010, Section 2(a) (with effect from April 19, 2010) : " 587[general] 587".
587   Inserted by Legal Framework Order, 2002 (Chief Executive's Order No. 24 of 2002), Article 3(1), Sch. item 22(b) (with effect from August 21, 2002).
588   The following was omitted by Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010, Section 2(a) (with effect from April 19, 2010) : :
 589[
(6) When a seat reserved for women or non-Muslims in the National Assembly or a Provincial Assembly falls vacant, for death, resignation or disqualification of a member, it shall be filled by the next person in order of precedence from the party list of the candidates submitted to the Election Commission for the last general election by the political party whose member has vacated such seat.
 
(7) When a care-taker Cabinet is appointed, on dissolution of the National Assembly under Article 58 or a Provincial Assembly under Article 112, or on dissolution of any such Assembly on completion of its term, the Prime Minister or, as the case may be, the Chief Minister of the care-taker Cabinet shall not be eligible to contest the immediately following election of such Assembly.
 nbsp;
] 589
589   Inserted by Legal Framework Order, 2002 (Chief Executive's Order No. 24 of 2002), Article 3(1), Sch. item 22(c) (with effect from August 21, 2002).
590   Inserted by Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010, Section 83(iii) (with effect from August 21, 2002).
591   Substituted by Constitution (Twentieth Amendment) Act, 2012, Section 8(b) (with effect from February 28, 2012) for ".".
592   Inserted by Constitution (Twentieth Amendment) Act, 2012, Section 8(c) (with effect from February 28, 2012).
593   Inserted by Constitution (Twentieth Amendment) Act, 2012, Section 9 (with effect from February 28, 2012).
594   Substituted by Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010, Section 84 (with effect from April 19, 2010) for :
226 Elections to be secret ballot.
All elections under the Constitution  595[] 595 shall be by secret ballot.
 
595   The following was omitted by Constitution (Third Amendment) Order, 1985 (President's Order No. 24 of 1985), Section 5 (with effect from March 19, 1985) : "other than those of the Prime Minister and a Chief Minister".

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