By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday ruled out the early Senate elections.
“The elections would be held on the time according to the law”, sources were quoted as saying. On March 11, half of the senators will retire and the election of the chairman and deputy chairman Senate will be held on March 12 and their oath on the same day. The ECP has 30 days to conduct the Senate elections and it cannot hold the polls before the time. However, the ECP has the right to conduct the Senate polls between February 11 to March 11. It is pertinent to mention here that Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced that the government would hold the Senate elections, scheduled for March, at an earlier date.
Speaking to the media, he had revealed the government had decided to hold the polls through show of hands instead of a secret ballot to bring an end to the practice of horse-trading and added it is going to approach the Supreme Court to seek its opinion on the proposed changes in the voting procedure. “A law defining procedure of the Senate polls is already present,” the election commission said adding that the ECP has 30 days to hold the elections on the seats of retiring Senators.
