Senate elections through secret ballot: Supreme Court
News Desk :
Supreme Court of Pakistan has ordered senate elections through secret ballot as the article 226 of the constitution. The apex court announced its order about the presidential reference.
The 4-1 majority opinion was announced by a five-member larger bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed and including Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Yahya Afridi.
However, Justice Afridi disagreed with the majority opinion. The apex court announced that polls for the senate elections would be held as per law and constitution.
Although, the court said it is the responsibility of the election commission of Pakistan to protect the election from corruption.
The parliament can pass constitutional amendments, the top court said. It emphasized that all institutions were bound to follow the ECP.
The bench said that the secrecy of the ballot papers, however, was “not final”, quoting a decision by the top court on the same in 1967 (Niaz Ahmed case).
A detailed judgment is expected to be issued shortly.
Senate elections through secret ballot: Supreme Court