‘Govt did horse-trading by passing ordinance in dark of night’

ISLAMABAD: Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah on Thursday said the government had made the Senate elections controversial by promulgating an ordinance in the dead of the night to change the procedure for voting on Fata seats.
“It was a unique incident in the parliamentary history [of the country] that the government promulgated an ordinance in the dead of the night before polling. The chief election commissioner should take notice of this irregularity,” he said while talking to the newsmen at the Parliament House.
He was of the opinion that election rules could not be altered after an election schedule had been announced.“Although, we did not oppose the ordinance, yet the timing for its promulgation was not correct. If the government had been sincere, it could have done so before the announcement of the schedule, but now it seems the government promulgated this ordinance just to serve its interests,” he said.
The PPP leader said if Fata elections were not held, then the House could not be completed on March 12 and the elections of chairman and deputy chairman could not be held.Khursheed said he was disappointed to note that the prime minister did not cast his vote in the crucial Senate elections.
Asked about the possibility of the PPP getting its candidate elected as chairman, he said the PPP was in a position to have its candidate elected as the Senate chairman with the support of the opposition parties.