Opposition will cry if open balloting is not held in Senate elections: PM Imran Khan

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday warned that if open balloting was not held during the upcoming Senate elections then the Opposition would start “crying”. 

PM Imran Khan, while speaking to journalists at Kallar Syedan Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, claimed that a Senate vote in Balochistan was being sold for Rs500-700 million. He questioned how such representatives were able to make their way to the assemblies.

“Not just today but before I was offered to sell my vote for a Senate seat in exchange for money,” claimed PM Imran, adding that direct and indirect contacts have been made to sell Senate seats.

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The premier regretted that the political parties that were in power before him did not attempt to "stop such corrupt practices", claiming that money for the votes also goes to the top leadership. 

The premier said that the country's main Opposition parties, the PPP and PML-N, had agreed for an open ballot according to the Charter of Democracy, adding that he had supported the PML-N in its call for open balloting then. 

Continuing his attack on the Opposition, PM Imran alleged that PDM chief Maulana Fazl ur Rehman had made “vast amounts of money” while selling votes during the polls for the upper house of the Parliament.

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The prime minister reminded journalists that it was his party that expelled 20 MPAs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for their involvement in horse-trading during the last Senate elections. 

Speaking about the recently-leaked video of PTI MPAs taking money for Senate polls in 2018, the PM said that if he had the videos before their release he would have taken it to court.

Earlier, while addressing the Ehsaas Kifalat programme ceremony, PM Imran said that it was the government’s responsibility to help weaker sections of the society.

Read more: 'Be patient', PM Imran Khan tells people on resolving Pakistan's problems

“The distribution of funds in the Ehsaas program has been fair and we have distributed cards only on merit,” said PM Imran. He added that the programme was clean and no one could raise a finger on the programme.

The premier said that his government had distributed funds in Sindh despite his party not being power in that province. He added that they distributed the most money in Sindh due to poverty.