Daily Times

The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned whether voting against the party is dishonesty, and that whether people vote for the party or its manifesto.

“It is not dishonesty but if a member has to vote against his party, then he should do it openly,” Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan replied to the court during hearing of a presidential reference seeking apex court opinion on open balloting for the upcoming Senate elections. Mostly the people vote due to the charisma of a leader, but in principle they should vote to a party and its election manifesto, he further said. To which, Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed said, “What is the charisma thing with the PTI?”

A five-member SC larger bench headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and comprising Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Yahya Afridi heard the reference.

During the proceedings, Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan said that the vote is given to the party and not to the individual candidate. The AGP replied that people question parties about compliance of their election promises. Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan said it is legally necessary to publish the party manifesto.

The attorney general told the court that falling in the public eye is the biggest failure of a politician. “Supreme Court disqualifies bank and utility bills defaulters. It has also disqualified members of parliament on the basis of fake degrees and false affidavits on dual citizenship,” he said. The chief justice said that misrepresentation of affidavits is a crime in itself.

The attorney general said the constitution mentions political parties, which are regulated by law. However, mentioning in the constitution does not mean that the political parties are formed under the constitution, he added.

Justice Bandial said that the election of National Assembly speaker and deputy speaker is mentioned in the rules of procedure. Whether the election of speaker is held under the rules instead of the constitution, he asked. The attorney general said the Election Commission of Pakistan does not conduct the election of speaker and deputy speaker. He said it was stated that the election of Senate chairman was not held through open balloting. After the court’s opinion, the election of chairman Senate will also be held through open balloting, he added.

Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan raised the question that whether voting against a party is dishonesty. To which, the attorney general said that it is not dishonesty but if one has to vote against the party, he should do it openly. Justice Ijaz Ahsan said if democracy had flourished in country, money would not have flowed into politics like this.

The chief justice asked whether the founders of the constitution were unaware of the Senate election. The attorney general said the buying and selling of votes, which exists presently, was non-existent in those days. In 1973, they were unaware that the bags stuffed with money would change hands, he added.

The court directed the attorney general to complete his arguments on the procedure of Senate elections by Thursday (today) and adjourned the hearing.