The National Assembly on Friday passed “The Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2024” shortly after approving the 2024-25 budget.
This bill reinstated the original provision that allows retired High Court judges to be appointed as members of Election Tribunals, which hear election petitions for national and provincial elections.
The opposition protested this change, as the previous legislation had replaced retired judges with sitting judges on these tribunals. However, the ruling PML-N government pushed the bill through with a majority vote in the National Assembly.
The key change is the restoration of the original Section 140 of the Election Act, 2017, which permits the appointment of retired High Court judges to the Election Tribunals, rather than only active sitting judges.
In 2023, an amendment was made to Section 140 of the Election Act to require only serving High Court judges be appointed as members of Election Tribunals for legislative elections.
However, this overlooked the heavy workload and backlog of cases faced by High Courts. The serving judges have limited time available to dedicate to the swift adjudication of election petitions.
As a result, it is now considered appropriate to restore the original provision of Section 140. This will make retired High Court judges eligible for appointment to the Election Tribunals, in addition to serving judges.
The rationale is that having retired judges serve on these tribunals will allow for more efficient and timely resolution of election-related disputes, without overburdening the active High Court judiciary.
“Similarly, for consistency, it is desirable to make retired District and Sessions Judges and retired Additional District and Sessions Judges eligible for appointment as member of the Election Tribunal for hearing of election petitions in respect of election to a local government,” according to the statement.
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