Name of voter on ballot proposed to check horse-trading

ISLAMABAD: After the reservations of opposition political parties about voting in the upcoming Senate elections through a show of hands, the government on Wednesday shared a new proposed draft with the opposition leaders under which voting will continue to take place through the ballot paper but it will contain the name of the candidate and voter to check horse-trading.
The party membership of a person voting for a candidate of another party will stand suspended.A government team, comprising Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafiq, met Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Senator Farhatullah Babar and Qamar Zaman Kaira to discuss ways to check horse-trading.
Assuring the government team of its fullest support to end the practice, the PPP leaders asked the government to convene an All Parties Conference (APC) to formulate a joint strategy in this regard.
Talking to newsmen after meeting Ishaq Dar and Saad Rafique, Khursheed Shah said there was a consensus among all the political parties to get rid of horse-trading.He said any mechanism, including a constitutional amendment, amendments to relevant laws or some other proposal, could be considered for the purpose.
He proposed an all parties conference (APC) to discuss the issue and formulate a strategy accordingly.He said it would be a black spot on the image of all political parties if horse-trading was blocked through a constitutional amendment.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has stepped up his efforts to check horse-trading in the Senate election for 52 seats.In this regard, he will contact the heads of different political parties. It is likely that as a first step, he will talk to PTI chief Imran Khan who has already appreciated his endeavour to eliminate the possibility of horse-trading.
Well-placed sources told The News on Wednesday that Nawaz Sharif was determined to set up a system that could clean national institutions of corruption and malpractices. Nawaz chaired a meeting of the committees which were constituted on Monday in the special sitting of the federal cabinet for working on legislation/ constitutional amendment, if required, for halting horse-trading in the Senate election.
One committee had to work out the draft of legislation, while two other committees were tasked with contacting the leaders of other political parties to muster their support for the cause. Talking to the members of the committee, Nawaz said the PML-N viewed horse-trading as the worst form of rigging that must be stopped for the sake of democracy.
“The PML-N will oppose the practice tooth and nail,” the prime minister added. According to the PM House, the two committees constituted for contacting different political parties … met the prime minister at the PM House Wednesday morning and presented their reports.
The prime minister asked the committees to enhance their contacts with all political parties so that the procedure necessary for stopping horse-trading could be agreed upon before the election, including a constitutional amendment, if required.
Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Minister for Information Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique, Governor KP Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan Abbasi, Minister of State for IT Ms. Anusha Rahman Ahmad Khan, Minister of State for Petroleum Jam Kamal Khan and Special Assistants to PM Khawaja Zaheer Ahmad and Barrister Zafarullah Khan were present on the occasion.
Sources said the prime minister appreciated the committees’ working and found it encouraging that most of the parties had consensus on eliminating the practice of horse-trading. Interestingly, they support the basic idea but are reluctant to lend their support for the time being under the pretext of ‘technical’ reasons, the sources added. Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has enhanced the date for withdrawal from the contest to four days.