PPP denies supporting Senate resolution to delay elections
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Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Senator Sherry Rehman clarified that her party did not support the Senate resolution that called for postponing the general elections, reported 24NewsHD TV channel Friday.
In a press conference, she said the PPP had a clear stance that the elections should be held on time and in a transparent manner.
"We absolutely do not support the delay in elections," she said, adding that the PPP didn't favour the Senate resolution.
She also said that the PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had made it clear that the party wanted the elections to be held as per the schedule announced by the Supreme Court.
Rehman said the PPP did not have any signature on the Senate resolution and that the party had opposed it in the house.
She said the PPP leadership would seek an explanation from Senator Bahramand Tangi and that the party's central committee would review his speech.
She urged the media and the public not to be in a state of excitement over the resolution and said that the PPP had always faced challenges and sacrificed for democracy.
"Elections were held even after the martyrdom of Benazir Bhutto," she said, referring to the late former prime minister and PPP leader who was assassinated in 2007.
The Senate adopted a resolution seeking a delay in general elections with just a month left in the much-awaited polls.
The majority of the lawmakers present in the legislature approved the resolution — seeking polls delay in the light of extreme weather in hilly areas and the deteriorating security situation — moved by independent lawmaker Senator Dilawar Khan earlier in the day.
The resolution moved by Senator Dilawar got the approval in the presence of 14 senators, who were the only lawmakers present in the upper house of 100.
PTI Senator Gurdeep Singh and PPP Senator Behramand Tangi abstained from voting. Following the vote, the Senate chairman adjourned the session indefinitely.
The elections are set to take place in 90 days when an assembly is dissolved, but the polls in all five legislative are yet to be held and they've already surpassed their constitutional limit.
The polls for KP and Punjab assemblies — dissolved in January last year — have not been held for around a year, while the national, Balochistan, and Sindh assemblies have been pushed past their limits as well already