Planning Minister Asad Umar says the government will take every possible measure, within the Constitution, to ensure transparency in the upcoming Senate elections and to end horse-trading in the polling process.
He was briefing media in Islamabad this afternoon, along with Minister for Information and Broadcasting Syed Shibli Faraz, about decisions taken at the federal cabinet, which met in the federal capital with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair.
The Planning Minister said it is an open secret that sale purchase of votes has been a tradition in the history of Senate elections in Pakistan. He said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has come to power on the belief that it will take all possible steps to check horse-trading in the Senate polls for which it has tabled a Constitution amendment in the National Assembly to hold Senate elections through open ballot.
Similarly, the government has also filed a presidential reference to the Supreme Court with a request for interpretation of the law pertaining to the Senate polls that whether these elections can be held through show of hands instead of the secret ballot. He said the government will respect apex court’s decision in this regard.
Asad Umar said the opposition parties, especially the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan People’s Party, had too promised in the Charter of Democracy to hold Senate elections in a transparent way, but now they are faltering from this commitment. He said we want to make the election process credible.
