It is law: President approves bill restricting ‘lawmakers’ from changing parties

President Asif Ali Zardari has approved the Election Act Amendment Bill 2024, which aims to restrict independent lawmakers from changing parties.

According to Geo News, the bill has been sent to the Senate Secretariat for official notification today.
The approval comes when the Election Commission Pakistan (ECP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have approached the Apex Court regarding the decision on reserved seats.
The bill proposes that if a candidate does not submit a declaration of his affiliation with a political party to the returning officer (RO) before seeking allotment of the election symbol, they shall be “considered as an independent candidate and not a candidate of any political party.’’

It further states that if a political party fails to submit its list for reserved seats within a prescribed time, it will not be eligible for reserved seats.
Lawmakers also cannot change to another party after joining one within three days of winning the election.