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Tuesday March 19, 2024

Imran says he will send vote-selling MPAs to jail

Senate elections

By our correspondents
March 05, 2015
PESHAWAR: The Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, has said he would send the party’s MPAs voting for candidates of other parties in the Senate elections to jail.
The PTI chief also threatened to dissolve the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly if it was proved that his party’s members had sold out their votes in the Senate elections.“We will go to any extent, including dissolving the KP Assembly, and take up the issue in the court of law. We will hold our party’s core committee meeting soon after the Senate elections to draw the future line of action,” he told a press conference at the Chief Minister’s House onmeeting the party’s MPAs and its coalition partners.
Imran also announced to hold Senate elections through open ballots or through direct votes of people if his party came into power. The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq, PTI leaders Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Jehangir Tareen and Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak attended the meeting, besides provincial ministers and members.
Imran Khan declared that his party had not entered into any alliance with any party, including the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) and Qaumi Watan Party (QWP), and said that if any of his MPAs voted for any other party’s candidate, it means he had been purchased.
“We have expelled a saleable MPA from the party and asked all members that they would have to vote for their own party’s candidates,” he said, adding that the PPP had only five MPAs in the provincial assembly but they fielded three candidates in such a situation where 17 votes were required to elect a single senator. Similarly, the JUI-F, with 17 legislators, has fielded two candidates and questioned as to what type of democracy it is.
The PTI chairman said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should take notice of the situation and save democracy. He said the JUI-F was playing politics in the name of Islam and considered horse-trading justified. He said the prime minister raised voice for open balloting for Senate elections but that was also a drama. He said the prime minister could have made proper arrangements to curb the way of horse-trading if he was sincere in his claims.
Imran Khan said his party supported Nawaz Sharif’s slogan and decided to go to the National Assembly if the Senate elections were held through open ballots. He said the PML-N itself initiated horse-trading, saying the Changa Manga politics was known to everyone. He said Nawaz Sharif later stated that his allies were not in favour of open ballot.
“Our members will not vote for status quo in the Senate elections. We want fair elections,” Imran said, adding that he held three months long sit-in in the federal capital against alleged rigging in last general elections in 2013.
He suggested that the Senate elections should be held directly to ensure transparency and fairness.He said he would not reveal the name of person who offered him Rs150 million donation for Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital in return for a Senate seat. “He is not a bad man. He made the offer because he knew this was a norm for the elections of Senate,” he explained.
Regarding the 22nd constitutional amendment, the PTI chief said that his party had strongly supported the proposal to ensure transparency in the Senate elections.