KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the Article 266 of the Constitution calls for holding Senate elections through a secret ballot.
“The allegation of sale and purchase of votes against the parliamentarians was aimed at defaming the public representatives as the members have the right to vote according to their conscience,” Murad said on Saturday while talking to the media at the office of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Responding to a question, Murad said that the secret voting for Senate election has been clearly mentioned in the Article 266 of the Constitution. “I am sure the decision [of the court] will be according to the constitutional guidance,” he added.
To a question about horse trading, the CM said that the allegation of purchase and sale of votes was aimed at defaming the parliamentarians. “Our [PPP’s] all the 12 candidates are purely party workers and have a long track record of loyalty with the party. Our one party candidate, Sadiq Memon had filed his nomination papers on Friday and today [Saturday] 11 others, nominated by the party for all three categories, have filed their papers,” he said.
Replying to a question about the success of PPP candidates, Murad said that all the 11 candidates of his party would return in the Senate. “We have fielded the best candidates and all of them have filed their nominations,” he added.
To a question about seeking support from other opposition parties for the Senate election, the chief minister said that it is the strategy of the party and he would not disclose the strategy. “But I am telling you, we would get our senators elected,” he claimed.
Talking about wheat shortage, Murad said that he was surprised that the federal cabinet had levelled the allegation of hoarding wheat on the Sindh government. “Why we will hoard it. But it was their failure to ensure procurement of wheat in Punjab,” he said and added “I am surprised that the PTI government has forgotten the statement of its Federal Minister Fakhar Imam on the floor of the National Assembly that 6.6 MMT of wheat harvested in Punjab had disappeared.”
