By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday allowed Sindh a week to respond to the presidential reference seeking advice on holding Senate elections through a show of hands. The government has filed a presidential reference with the SC seeking its guidance on amending the Election Act, 2017 through an ordinance to allow voting in the Senate elections through a show of hands instead of the practice of voting through a secret ballot.
Attorney General of Pakistan Khalid Javed, while initiating arguments in court, said that he would start his argument by stating why the reference was admissible. The AGP said that the presidential reference comes under the Constitution’s Article 226. The apex-court is bound to give an opinion on the reference filed by the president under the law, he argued. The attorney general informed the court that, under the Constitution’s Article 186, the SC could also give an opinion on future legislation. AGP Javed said that under Article 186, the president can seek the Supreme Court’s opinion.
Meanwhile, during the proceedings, Sindh’s advocate general sought time to file a reply, after which the apex-court gave him a week’s time to respond.
Moreover, Senator Raza Rabbani’s plea to be a party in the case was also approved. On Saturday, the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments supported the Centre’s call to hold Senate elections through an open ballot. The KP government, in its response to the apex court, said that in the past, the secret balloting method had been used against the spirit of elections.
KP demanded that the court allow the Parliament and the government to amend the Election Act 2017 to hold Senate elections by open ballot. Transparent elections are the basis of democracy while voting against one’s party is dishonesty, they argued.
Meanwhile, Punjab said that lawmakers use Senate elections to move against the party policy for their personal benefits. Punjab said that members who oppose party policy can resign and that it was better to resign than sell their votes. The presidential reference: On January 4, the apex court had issued notices to the federal and provincial advocate generals, the NA speaker and speakers of the provincial assemblies and the Election Commission of Pakistan for a hearing of the presidential preference for holding Senate elections by open ballot. A five-member larger bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed and comprising Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Yahyah Afridi and Justice Ijazul Ahsan heard the reference. The reference read that the president has sought the apex court’s opinion on whether the condition of holding a secret ballot referred to in Article 226 of the Constitution is applicable only for the elections held under the Constitution such as the election to the office of president, speakers and deputy speakers of the Parliament and provincial assemblies.
