Islamabad: Advocate general Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Punjab adopted attorney general point of view in a hearing regarding presidential reference on Thursday.
The top court resumed hearing of a presidential reference seeking the court’s opinion on introducing open ballot mode in the March 3 Senate elections.
Advocate General Sindh Salman Talibuddin has told the Supreme Court that accepting the presidential reference would be tantamount to an amendment in the Constitution.
AG Sindh also raised objections on the maintainability of the reference, saying it is a political question.
He further said that allegation of corruption in the Senate elections is hearsay as there is no evidence in this regard and added that secrecy in the polls is absolute in view of the Article 226 of the Constitution.
At this, Justice Umar Ata Bandial said that the best evidence of corruption is a traceable ballot of a voter.
The judge observed that if the Election Commission is unable to access the paper ballot, then Article 225 of the Constitution stands redundant.
“If prima facie, there is [a] material of corruption, then a tribunal can order the examining of the ballot,” he maintained.
Justice Ijazul Ahsan said on the occasion that “you can not shut [the] door to the opening of ballots.”
During the proceedings, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed remarked, “We can’t say anything whether open balloting in Senate elections will eliminate horse trading or not.”
It is disappointing that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have retracted from the Charter of Democracy agreement, the top judge expressed.
Justice Gulzar said that Article 63A of the Constitution is not applicable in Senate elections and that there is no concept of secret voting in Article 59.
