ISLAMABAD: Days after it called for prioritising the passage of the Election Bill 2017, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) may not attend meetings of the subcommittee on electoral reforms, scheduled to begin today (Monday).

Following the commission`s letter to the National Assembly speaker asking parliament to urgently finalise legislation on the proposed election law, Law Minister Zahid Hamid convened three consecutive meetings of the subcommittee on electoral reforms.

But the ECP boycotted an earlier meeting over allegations hurled by opposition members and may not be represented.

A senior official, who has been attending meetings of the committee on behalf of the ECP, told Dawn on Sunday that they would stick to their earlier decision of boycotting proceedings of the electoral reforms committee.

This development has invited the ire of opposition lawmakers.

`When you (ECP) write a letter for urgent legislation, then you must come to the meetings as well,` said Pakistan Peoples Party`s (PPP) Syed Naveed Qamar, who is also a member of the electoral reforms committee.

The law minister, who is the convener of the subcommittee of the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms (PCER), called the meetings for `consideration of the proposals received on the Election Bill 2017`, according to the agenda issued by the National Assembly Secretariat.

The committee has not met since March 2, when ECP Secretary Babar Yaqub Fateh Mohammad and other officials walked out of a meeting after Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf`s (PTI) Shireen Mazari accused the commission of preparing to rig the 2018 general elections, while questioning the replacement of provincial election commissioners.

Later, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza wrote to NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq to convey the commission`s decision to completely boycott the committee proceedings and seek action against PTI legislators who, in his view, had violated the `rules of procedure` and `principles of confidentiality`.

The CEC`s letter stated that top officials of the commission attended 20 meetings of the main committee and 78 meetings of the subcommittee `in good faith in the interest of a meaningful reform in electoral framework` and that they were `not doing it to be insulted, ridiculed, taunted and blamed and that too on the basis of routine procedures`.

The ECP had last week warned that time was running out for the enactment of electoral reforms if political parties wante d the next general elections to be held under the proposed laws.

The commission has asked the speaker to direct the parliamentary committee `to finalise its recommendations and lay the bill before the parliament for making necessary legislation and enact the Election Act 2017 as early as possible so that the ECP could start and complete its work in time according to the new law`.

The draft Election Law 2017 was presented by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who heads the parliamentary committee, before both houses of parliament in an interim report on Dec 20 last year.While tabling the report, the minister said the committee had decided to seek feedback from all stakeholders, including parliamentarians, adding that a final draft would be completed within 30 days, once all recommendations had been incorporated.

Following the ECP`s warning, the government, the opposition and the ECP began shifting the onus of the delay onto one another.

The two main opposition parties PPP and PTI blamed the government and the ECP, whereas the ECP said its hands were tied in the absence of required legislation.

PPP parliamentary leader Naveed Qamar said ECP officials must attend the meetings because it was their `national duty`. He was of the view that the ECP of ficials must not make a big issue out of members` remarks and comments during committee proceedings and should show magnanimity.

In reply to a question, Mr Qamar said he personally believed that lawmakers would not be able to give the draft a final shape since it required a lot of improvement.

`There are still mistakes in it.

Moreover, he said his party was giving more recommendations to the committee with a view to improving the law and making the ECP an independent and powerful institution.

Similarly, PTI MNA Dr Arif Alvi told Dawn that his party had also prepared a draf t of further recommendations for inclusion in the draf t, which would be submitted to the committee at the next meeting.

He lashed out at the ECP for its decision to boycott the committee proceedings and accused it of shifting the blame onto others, while ignoring its own mistakes.

The PTI leader reiterated his allegation that the ECP had been `deliberately delaying` the process which was evident from the fact that it had not fulfilled any task assigned by the committee on time.

MinisterofStateforCapitalDevelopment and Administration Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, who is also a member of the committee, had already held the opposition responsible for the delay, saying the opposition parties had at the last meeting sought time from the government to review the draf t before giving their final assent. Since then, he said, they had been waiting for a response.