Senate elections saga: Khaqan Abbasi terms ‘show of hand’ impracticable

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and secretary general of united opposition, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said the ‘show of hand’ for voting in the Senate polls is practically impossible and asking for it is mere stupidity as the elections being held before the described schedules.

Khaqan Abbasi said it is to understand that the voting for the Senate is made on the basis of single transferable vote, which ascertains priorities, while at the same time the government has no authority to change the schedule. He added that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is the sole authority for formulating the schedule of the Senate’s polls. “I am sure the ECP will not budge to the pressure of the government for early polls for the 51 seats of the Senate”, he elaborated.

The former PM said the schedule is being followed for more than forty years and the ECP should ask the government about the urgency that could necessitate the change in the schedule. In a brief chat with ‘The News’ on Wednesday, Abbasi made it clear that the deadlines given by the PDM for submitting resignations, asking prime minister to stepping down and initiation of long-march, have got nothing to do with the Senate elections. Abbasi further said the government lacked the common sense and legal prudence to comprehend the intricacies of such constitutional matters. In a lighter vein, the PML-N said, the ‘relaxed’ PM is talking about the change in the voting system for Senate and brining the schedule for the polls earlier in sheer panic, although he claimed that he did not ‘impressed’ with the opposition’s movement.

Meanwhile, the PDM top leadership has decided to attend the public meeting and other activities being arranged on 27th December in Larkana to mark the death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto. No formal meeting of the PDM has been schedule for the day but an informal get-to-gather would be taken place immediate after the engagements of the Benazir’s death anniversary. The sources said the steering committee of the PDM would have its meeting next week to take up the impact of government’s campaign against the opposition leaders.

The committee would also discuss the public campaign of Maryam Nawaz Sharif that has already been finalized, while other leaders would undertake such exercises, the sources added. They also pointed out that the PDM is not considering changing its deadlines for submitting the resignations and before that limit for Prime Minister Imran Khan to step down. The opposition parties alliance, PDM, has also given the February first week’s deadline for kicking off the long march, but all the three activities would not be changed contrary to what speculated by some quarters.