ISLAMABAD: The parliamentary committee on electoral reforms, headed by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, finalised on Tuesday the draft law on eligibility criteria for appointment of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The draft law is most likely to be presented before parliament on Wednesday, a participant of the meeting told Dawn.

He said that a key amendment to the draft law had been approved to replace the vague clause describing a senior civil servant as the CEC and the ECP member.

He said that under the amendment only a Grade 22 officer would now qualify to be considered for these positions.

He said the decision had been taken on an objection raised by senior representatives of the ECP who had called for grabbing the opportunity for reforming the ECP.

It was pointed out during the committee meeting that under the present form of the draf t law, even a Grade 20 officer would be eligible for appointment as the CEC or as a member of the ECP, creating a situation where officers senior and more experienced to them would be serving under him/ her in the ECP Secretariat.

The passage of the draft law will do away with the mandatory requirement of drawing the CEC and four ECP members from the judiciary.

At present the CEC is appointed under Article 213 of the Constitution and its Clause 2 reads: `No person shall be appointed to be Commissioner unless he is, or has been a judge of the Supreme Court, or he is, or has been a judge of a high court and is qualified under paragraph (a) Clause 2 of Article 177 to be appointed as judge of the Supreme Court.

Under Article 218 of the Constitution, a person who is or has been, or qualifies to be appointed as judge of a high court can be appointed a member of the ECP.

He said that under the amendment formof the draft law, besides this, Grade 22 civil servants and technocrats would also be eligible for appointment as CEC and members of the ECP.

According to Law Minister Zahid Hamid, the definition of a technocrat was also being made part of the Constitution.

He said that a person having 16 years` education and 20 years` experience would be called a technocrat.

He said the law also fixed a maximum age limit of 68 years and 65 years for appointment as CEC and ECP members, respectively.

He said that in the absence of the CEC, instead of a nominee of the Chief Justice, the senior-most member would serve as the acting CEC.

Meanwhile, a sub-committee of the parIlamentary panel on electoral reforms, headed by Law Minister Zahid Hamid also met here.

Later, talking to reporters Zahid Hamid said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had approved requests for proposal for procurement of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and biometric machines to authenticate voters at polling stations.

A report on elections held in the Philippines was presented before the committee.

According to the report, more than 93,000 EVMs had been used in the Philippines polls, and the results were announced 10 minutes after the conclusion of the polling exercise.

The cost of each EVM was $900.

The law minister said that some 300,000 machines would be required for elections in Pakistan.

Sources told Dawn that the ECP would invite tenders for purchase of 400 EVMs and 300 biometric machines in the next two days.

They said that the machines would be used for test trials in by-elections at the end of the current calendar year.

The committee expressed its displeasure over the failure of National Database and Registration Authority in developing an online voters` registration software to enable overseas Pakistanis to electronically cast their votes and directed it to do it at the earliest.

The overseas Pakistanis possessing NICOP would soon be involved in test trial of electronic voting machines.