The Election Commission (EC) on Monday began implementing the fifth amendment to the Political Parties Act, which mandates parties to submit their membership applications through an online portal.
The amendment also requires political parties to keep the forms archived for 10 years.
According to the amendment, political parties must submit their membership applications through a designated online portal set up by the EC. However, in cases where online submission is not possible, the option to submit forms directly to the commission is also available.
Previously, physical copies of membership forms for political parties had to be submitted directly to the commission; however, due to the large volume of papers they had to file, the EC faced with space constraints.
With the amendment, the issue of space limitation would be resolved since political parties are now required to archive their own application forms.
The Vice President of the EC, Ismail Habeeb, said that the online portal would make it easier for the commission as well as the parties to keep track of their membership.
"Before, forms had to be submitted during official hours, and it takes a long time to count the forms. But now forms can be submitted at any time," Habib said.
The EC will make a separate agreement with the political parties to keep the forms they already have for a certain period of time. The agreement is currently being drafted.
Habib also said that it will be within the party's mandate to maintain their own registry and resolve the issue of individuals being registered in political parties without their knowledge. He said that the party will have to provide copies of the admission forms henceforth.
Despite setting up an online portal for party registration, potential members are still required to fill out the applications on paper and submit scanned copies to the portal.
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