Govt seeks to hold Senate elections in February
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The federal government Monday proposed to hold Senate election by show of hands in the cabinet meeting, reported 24NewsHd TV Channel.
The meeting of Federal Cabinet with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair was held in Islamabad on Tuesday.
Through the open voting process, everyone will know who voted for whom in the Senate elections.
Federal Minister of Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhary proposed that the Senate elections could be held one month earlier.
Attorney General of Pakistan Khalid Javed Khan also gave his opinion to conduct Senate election one month earlier in February instead of March.
Adviser to Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan also briefed the cabinet regarding the legal and political aspects of the decision.
The federal government has also decided to file a reference in the Supreme Court in this regard to take the legal opinion from the apex court on the issue.
Federal Information Minister Shibli Faraz while addressing the media after the cabinet meeting confirmed that the government wanted to conduct the Senate elections one month earlier.
He said holding the elections earlier would serve the interests of all the political parties.
He said the PM Imran Khan also wants to conduct the Senate election by show of hand.
He said Senate elections always remained at the centre of horse-trading allegations and that’s why the government wants open voting for the Senate elections.
He said PM Khan had expelled 20 MPAs from the party due to horse-trading allegations.
The information minister said they are ready to hold talks with the opposition on election reforms as they want the passage of a bill to hold the Senate elections through the show of the hands.
He also hoped that they would be able to get the Supreme Court’s guidance in this regard as well.
Shibli also told that a committee has been formed to investigate the report on the petroleum crisis. Asad Umar will chair the committee with Shafqat Mehmood, Shireen Mazari and Azam Swati as its members, he added.
He said the committee will submit its report in one week time when the next cabinet meeting will be held.
Shibli said the cabinet has also discussed the matter of NFC award. He said there are some issues to be resolved after the 18th amendment including the information of spending of the money given to the provinces through the NFC award.
He cited the example of Shehbaz Sharif who according to him spent maximum resources only on the provincial capital Lahore.
The information minister said a mechanism would have to be devised for the development budget of the provinces. He said after awarding the NFC, the federation remained with empty hands.