Video of horse-trading during Senate 2018 elections emerges

Dunya News

Video showing horse-trading during Senate elections surfaces.

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – A video of horse-trading during Senate elections in 2018 by some provincial lawmakers has emerged.

The lawmakers can be seen counting bundles of notes and putting them inside a bag.

The video obtained by Dunya News shows that lawmakers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) sold their votes during last Senate elections.

Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhry, while exclusively talking to Dunya News has said that selling votes for financial benefits is very shameful and urged Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) to take suo moto notice of the incident.

On the other hand, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill has said that PM Imran Khan has been raising the issue for past 25 years as he is strictly against horse-trading in elections.

It is to be noted here that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had expelled its lawmakers for “selling their votes” in Senate elections. Imran Khan had said that 20 of PTI MPAs had received Rs40 million each for selling their loyalties in the Senate election.

PTI government, in order to conduct Senate elections by open ballot in 2021, has approached the apex court under Article 186.

The top court’s guidance has been sought in the presidential reference in order to amend Section 122 (6) of the Election Act, 2017 without amending the constitution.