PHOTO: PID
Ahead of the Senate elections, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has urged all parliamentary leaders to work together to prevent horse trading.
"Electoral reforms and transparency in Senate elections have a strong correlation," the premier said, while addressing parliamentary leaders in Islamabad.
Condemning the act of buying votes, the premier said, "In our reform package, we have stated we need to stop such practices."
"All of us need to work together to prevent people from buying votes as it taints our name and the sanctity of the Senate," he added.
The meeting was attended by parliamentary leaders, including Khawaja Asif, Ishaq Dar, Ahsan Iqbal, Saad Rafique, Khursheed Shah, Sherry Rehman, Arif Alvi, Shireen Mazari and Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
The Lahore High Court on Tuesday sought a reply from the Election Commission of Pakistan for failing to implement Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution while scrutinising candidates for elections to the Senate.
Read: Senate elections: ‘ECP failed to honour obligations’
Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah was hearing a petition filed against the failure of the commission to fulfil its constitutional obligations in this regard. Azhar Siddique, the counsel for the petitioner, said the lax scrutiny of candidates had allowed many an ineligible person to contest the elections.
Earlier, in a statement issued by PPP’s media office, former president Asif Ali Zardari said that issues of electoral reforms and preventing horse trading should be addressed by all parties together and not by the government alone, rather the government should convene an all parties meeting.
Read: Senate elections: Zardari wants govt to summon APC to tackle horse trading
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