LHC moved to strike down secret-ballot for Senate elections

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has been requested to strike down the method of secret balloting for the Senate elections to discourage floor-crossing and vote buying.

Munir Ahmad, a lawyer by profession, in a writ petition, filed through Advocate Azhar Siddique, also assailed the vires of Section 122 (6) of the Election Act 2017 for being in violation of articles 222 and 226 of the Constitution.

The petitioner submits that the article 226 restricts secret balloting only for those elections that are held under the Constitution, which include elections for the office of president, speakers and deputy speakers of National and provincial assemblies, and election of chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate.

He stated that the election for the members of the Senate does not fall within the definition of the elections as envisaged in Article 226. Therefore, he argued, the voting could be held through an open ballot. The petitioner contended that the framer of the Constitution, unfortunately, left a number of things open to be settled by the parliament through statutory legislation and the parliament has to confine itself to making the things transparent, merit based and to develop a system free of rigging and manipulation. He pleads that by incorporating the words “secret balloting” in Section 122 of the Election Act, prima facie, a door has been opened for corruption and corrupt practices and taking undue advantages to the members, therefore, this provision is null and void in the eye of law and has at the same time violated a number of constitutional provisions.

The petitioner asked the court to allow the petition and strike down the method of the secret balloting in order to discourage floor-crossing, use of looted and laundered money for vote-buying in Senate elections. The lawyer urged the court to set aside Section 122 (6) of the Elections Act 2017 for being ultra vires to articles 222 and 226 of the Constitution in the interest of the public, justice, equity and fair play.