Senate elections will be held today (Thursday) amid allegations of horse trading.
Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan has claimed that lawmakers are being bribed buy their votes to a certain party so that it could win majority in the Senate.
Approximately 131 candidates will contest for 52 Senate seats as National and provincial assemblies meet Thursday to elect new senators to replace those, who have retired after their 6-year term.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the majority party in Senate, would lose 21 members, followed by Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz would lose 9 and Awami National Party would lose 6 members.
Khan minced no words when he warned that the PTI would dissolve provincial assembly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa if Senate elections were manipulated by these apolitical shady tricks.
Khan says ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and another opposition party Pakistan People’s Party are the top traders of horses.
“PTI is the first political party to openly highlight the issue of ongoing practice of horse trading & corruption in the Senate elections including a strong demand for open balloting,” said his party in a statement issued here.
It added that: “However, the political developments over the last few days have revealed that despite its agreement in respect of the requirement for a constitutional amendment pertaining to open balloting in senate elections, the federal government has not undertaken any sincere efforts to ensure that it takes place prior to the upcoming senate elections.”
The statement further said the demand for open balloting has revealed & exposed both PPP & JUI-F as political parties which are deeply involved in horse trading & undertaking undemocratic measures to buy their way into senate.
“PPP & JUI-F’s clear denial to support the 22nd constitutional amendment for open balloting in the Senate elections stands proof to the indictment of their complicity in this undemocratic practice,” it said.
The PTI statement stressed that every elected Parliamentarian had a moral obligation to protect the mandate provided by the voter & ensure that the Senate is representative of the provincial allocation envisaged in the constitution of Pakistan.
“PTI is committed to ensuring free, fair & transparent elections in Pakistan & will continue to stand against sky efforts to undermine democracy & deprive the mandate of the people of Pakistan,” it added.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Sardar Raza Khan vowed to tame the violators if there was strong enough evidence that code of conduct had been breached.
“If ECP is provided with the hard evidence for the same then the committers will face an even harder action,” Khan said Wednesday.
The CEC said that horse-trading is not acceptable under any circumstances.
Report Courtesy: Samaa Tv
