Separately, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz said that the ill-gotten wealth amassed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) through corrupt practices is being used to purchase MPs for the Senate elections on March 3.
Speaking to the reporters in Islamabad, the minister said that both the parties wanted to continue the politics of horse trading.
He further said that PPP leader and former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani submitted his arguments before the Supreme Court (SC) in support of secret balloting during the Senate elections, which he observed is contrary to the Charter of Democracy (CoD) signed between slain prime minister Benazir Bhutto and PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif in 2006.
Faraz said that the PTI “laid the foundation of clean politics”. He said that the party was striving to end corruption in the country.
He also said that any person, who comes to parliament through money power, cannot be a real representative of the public.
Later, in a tweet, the minister said that the two political parties – the PPP and the PML- N were responsible for earning bad name for the politics and politicians.
Senator Faraz said that they signed the Charter of Democracy but backtracked from the agreement and promoted horse-trading. He said that, despite having no majority in the National Assembly, Asif Zardari’s claim of victory of Yousuf Raza Gilani has proved the opposition’s involvement in dirty politics of sale and purchase of loyalties.
ELECTRONIC VOTING TO STOP FRAUD:
Federal Minister for Science and Technology Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Monday said that the electronic voting machines developed by the National Institute of Electronics would help in getting rid of elections rigging.
Briefing media persons about the electronic voting machine in Islamabad, he said that the machine had two parts. The first part will have election symbols while the second will be with the presiding officer.
Fawad said that only the presiding officer would be able to turn on the machine and voters would be able to cast their vote by clicking on any symbol through the machine.
He added that clicking on the election symbol would be an electric vote cast.
“Not only electric vote casting can be done through the machine but also ballot paper can be printed,” he said.
The minister said that the machine is also electric and can be used for casting votes on ballot papers.
HE announced that the work on the electronic voting machine was in the final stages and this machine would be shared with the National Database Registration Authority (NDRA), National University of Science and Technology and COMSATS soon.
He said that the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Institute of Electronics had done a great job by developing such a machine.
The machine has been developed as per directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan to ensure fair and transparent elections, he added.
It is necessary to convert to the electronic voting system to avoid what happened in Daska and other places in the recent by-elections, he further said.
With additional input from APP
