PM Imran Addresses Nation After Big Upset In Senate

Prime Minister Imran Khan has addressed the nation after upset defeat in the general seat of Islamabad in the Upper House elections.

The Prime Minister said that the manner in which the Senate elections were held explicates the root cause of the country’s problems.

“When I made the government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, I came to know about how they do horse-trading in Senate elections and this has been going on for 30 to 40 years,” the PM added

Prime Minister Imran Khan said that senate elections lead the country and when he got to know how a senator get elected by horse-trading and MPs sell their consciences for money then he decided to start campaigning for an open ballot.

The Prime Minister said that the opposition pushed the country into the FATF blacklist and when the government tried to legislate to get out of the grey list, they presented their points asking for NROs and tried to blackmail the government.

Criticizing the Election Commission, he said, “Fair and transparent elections are the responsibility of the Election Commission.” Does the Constitution allow Electoral fraud? the premier asked.

On March 3, the main focus of the 37-seat Upper House was the Islamabad General Seat, with Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and ruling coalition candidate, and his rival, The joint candidate of PDM former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

The ruling party was confident that it would win the seat, which was the electoral college for the seat, due to a majority, but the results turned out to be the opposite, with opposition candidate Yousuf Raza Gilani winning 169 votes and Hafeez Sheikh secured 164 votes and 7 votes were rejected.

Interestingly, the PTI leader won the women’s seat from Islamabad with 174 votes while the opposition candidate lost.

After the upset defeat, where the government raised objections, the opposition won and demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister.

After which, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and other ministers gave a press briefing and said that the Prime Minister has decided to take a vote of confidence from the House.

The Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) firmly believes that open balloting is the only way to eliminate horse-trading in the Senate elections.

In a statement today, he said the Prime Minister has conveyed his concerns over the victory of Yousuf Raza Gilani in the centre. He said PTI also has a copy of the leaked video of Gilani’s son.

The minister said, to enjoy the real fruits of democracy, we have to discourage those who contest elections on the strength of money.