Centre asked to take steps for transparent Senate election

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday passed a unanimous resolution, urging the federal government to take practical steps to ensure transparent Senate election.
The resolution was signed by the parliamentary leaders of the ruling and opposition parties.The resolution said the political parties were unanimous that the present system of the Senate elections was bringing a bad name to the lawmakers.
It said that this also damaged politics and harmed the reputation of the political parties and politicians. “This House recommends to the provincial government to ask the federal government to take proper steps for ensuring free and transparent Senate elections,” the resolution read.
The issue was raised after Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senior Minister for Local Government Inayatullah Khan referred to media reports that said his party had asked the PTI to make a panel of its senior leaders to vote for the JI chief Sirajul Haq in the Senate elections.
Inayatullah denied making any such demand and said that as coalition partners the PTI and JI trusted each other.Meanwhile, JI chief Sirajul Haq told reporters that Senate elections were a test of the MPAs. He said some people had turned to lawmakers with briefcases full of money and they were confident of their victory.
Sirajul Haq also called for changing the present system of Senate elections and said that it was not a divine decree that could not be changed.