Open balloting to help ensure transparency in Senate polls: FM Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: In order to ensure transparency and end horse-trading, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday said that the government wants that the upcoming Senate polls should be held through open ballot instead of the secret ballot, ARY News reported.

Talking to journalists, FM Qureshi said that they wanted that horse-trading, corrupt practices, trade of loyalty amid Senate elections should be ended.

There was a clear contradiction between the words and deeds of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), he added.

The foreign minister said that PML-N and PPP had sighed the charter of democracy but now both the parties have backtracked from the contract.

Earlier today, the government had gotten the approval from the federal cabinet regarding the ordinance to legalise the organisation of Senate elections through the open ballot.

Sources had told ARY News that the federal cabinet approved the ordinance through a circulation summary which paved the way for the promulgation of the law before the release of the election schedule.

It may be noted here that the presidential reference was also being heard by the Supreme Court (SC) pertains to the organisation of Senate polls through an open vote.