Senate Elections to be held as per past practice

Lahore, 2nd March: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has said that Senate Elections on March 3 will be held as per past practice.

Baaghi TV: ECP said on Tuesday that the Senate elections slated for March 3 (tomorrow) will be held through secret balloting as per past practices.

A meeting of the Election Commission was held under the chairmanship of the Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja and was attended by its members, retired justice Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi, retired Justice Irshad Qaiser, Shah Mohammad Jatoi and Nisar Ahmed Durrani.

The ECP decided that due to time restriction, the Senate election to be held on March 3 will be conducted as provided in the Constitution and Law as per past practice.

ECP’s statement read, “The commission deliberated on the order/opinion of the Supreme Court passed today in Presidential Reference No. 1/2020 and decided to implement it in letter and spirit.”

It added that the commission is taking all possible steps and measures to fulfil its constitutional duty to check that corrupt practices in the Senate Elections are guarded against.

The ECP said it has not received the detailed order/opinion of the SC as yet.

It added that the SC has directed that the Senate Election of Pakistan is under the Constitution and the law which is through a secret ballot.

“The Supreme Court in short order mentioned that the Election Commission is required to utilize the technologies and to develop a mechanism for the fulfilment of its constitutional duty in terms of Article 218(3) of the Constitution.”

According to reports, ECP has decided to form a three-member committee to take input from different professional/technical organisations and prepare recommendations regarding the use of technology in the Senate election within a period of four weeks.

The committee will be taking help from NADRA, FIA and the Ministry of IT.

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