PPP to requisition Senate session for elections on time

KARACHI: The Pakistan People's Party has announced to requisition the Senate session in view of certain recent developments, which could endanger the timely holding of general elections in the country.

Speaking at a press conference here on Saturday, the Leader of Opposition in Senate, Sherry Rehman, said the annulment of the proposed nomination forms for the electoral candidates is a serious matter fraught with dangers to democracy. She said the nomination forms are part of the Election Act as no other institution could amend the laws duly passed by the parliament. She said the Peoples Party wanted that the elections should be held on time and in accordance with the rules and regulations. “Though Election Commission has said that the elections will be held indeed on 25th July but the election schedule has been disturbed after the recent decision of Lahore High Court,” she said. “The entire world is watching Pakistan so all the institutions should strive to hold the general elections on time and to peacefully complete the process of transfer of power,” she said. Sherry clarified that the new nomination forms were duly approved by the parliament and didn’t carry any objectionable feature. She said the old nomination forms have not been amended to hide the details of the wealth status of the prospective candidates. She said the amendments to the nomination forms have not been incorporated by a single political party rather it was the result of mutual consultation among all the parties.

The Leader of Opposition in the Senate, said her party has decided to requisition the session of Senate. “In this regard, we are in contact with all the allied parties and have been gathering their signatures for the purpose. We want to contact all the relevant institutions in this regard,” she said. She said a number of factors have come into play regarding the upcoming general elections owing to which uncertainty is spreading fast.

Speaking on the occasion, the PPP leader Syed Khursheed Shah said the Peoples Party didn’t want postponement of the general polls even for a single day. But the resolution of the Balochistan Assembly, the letter of the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the orders of the Lahore High Court, have all created uncertainty, doubts, and reservations. He said in this situation the statement of the Chief Justice of Pakistan has been quite satisfactory who has declared that the elections will be held on time. The PPP leader, Nayyar Hussain Bukhari said once the nomination forms are challenged in the court, questions would be also raised about the recent Senate polls as they were held on the basis of the newly designed forms.

Meanwhile, PPP Sindh President Nisar Ahmed Khuhro said certain people have been trying to make the upcoming general elections unsafe and people are aware of such conspiracies. Speaking at an Iftar reception, the PPP leader said the chief justice of Pakistan should also take cognizance of the attempts to render the upcoming general election unsafe. He also expressed concern over the resolution recently passed by Balochistan Assembly demanding to delay the general elections.