Islamabad (March 14, 2018): The Election Commission of Pakistan on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of a case into horse trading allegations during the Senate elections 2018 till April 04 and also mulled over to seek help of FIA and other institutions to trace out those involved in this activity.
During the hearing on Wednesday, the representatives of different parties appeared before the commission.
Chief Election Commissioner Sardar Muhammad Raza remarked ECP want all the political parties to help the supervisory body in investigating this matter as selling and buying of votes is a serious crime.
The commission also hinted that they might seek help from FIA and intelligence agencies to probe alleged horse-trading in March 3 elections for 52 Senate seats.
Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb said that Election Commission has powers under article 20 of the constitution to investigate irregularities in elections.
She was talking to media outside the Election Commission of Pakistan in Islamabad on Wednesday morning.
She said the Election Commission should take notice of horse-trading and question those responsible for it.
The Minister of State for Information said if a party with mere thirty seats gets forty-four votes, it becomes obvious that the party has used illegal means to win these seats.
She said every institution of the country should work within the framework of the Constitution.
Shahid Gondal, the counsel for Imran Khan, told the ECP bench that PTI had already constituted a committee to investigate which party lawmakers voted for candidates other than PTI.
He claimed PTI will provide all available proof to ECP.
In his written reply, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Chief Farooq Sattar alleged six MQM-P’s Provincial Assembly members sold their votes.
According to Sattar, Heero Soho, Saleem Rajput, Shazia Javed, Naila Munir, Samita Afzal and Naheed Begum voted for the opposing candidate.
In his reply, Sattar further stated MQM-P has issued show-cause notice to the Provincial Assembly members.
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