The Constitution as the supreme doctrine arching over all state bodies commands the same respect as the state itself. Its provision for ensuing amendments ensures its malleability over time. However, Pakistan’s constitutional history is fraught with amendments being passed and undone depending on whoever is in power. While any step forward is a good step, when these steps are only made to be backtracked a nation stays locked in impasse. The passage of the 20th Amendment in the NA last week was welcomed by the media at large, however the principal behind the dulation of one bill into another remains to be studied and the repercussions of the current breakthrough in democracy needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
Let’s start with the relevant parts of the 18th Amendment and how the 20th Amendment developed on those. According to the 18th Amendment the Prime Minister would, in ‘consultation’ with the Leader of the Opposition of the National Assembly put forward three candidates for the position of the Chief Election Commissioner of which one will be chosen by a parliamentary committee, which would comprise of 12 members, of which 1/3 would be from the Senate, and will have a 50% representation from the opposition. If the National Assembly is dissolved and a Chief Election Commissioner has to be elected, then the committee will comprise only of the members of the senate.
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