LAHORE: A federal law officer on Tuesday told the Lahore High Court that at present any petition regarding the method of balloting in the upcoming Senate election was not maintainable since, according to the federal government, the Supreme Court had already taken cognizance of the matter on a reference filed by the president of Pakistan.

Justice Atir Mahmood was hearing a petition moved by a lawyer for striking down the method of secret balloting for the Senate polls, when Deputy Attorney General Asad Bajwa questioned the competency of the petition.

He told the court that as the apex court had already taken up a presidential reference on the matter, it was beyond the high court’s remit to hear a petition on this question. He said President Arif Ali had sought the Supreme Court’s opinion on “open ballot” for the upper house polls.

The judge adjourned the hearing till Jan 28 and asked Advocate Azhar Siddique, the petitioner’s counsel, to apprise the court as to how it could strike down the provision of the Election Act 2017, which had been duly legislated by the parliament.

Munir Ahmad, a lawyer, in his petition had assailed the vires of section 122 (6) of the Election Act 2017 for “being in violation” of articles 222 and 226 of the Constitution.

He stated the article 226 restricted secret balloting only for elections held under the Constitution, which include those held for the office of president, speakers and deputy speakers of national and provincial assemblies, and of chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate.

He held that the election for the members of the Senate did not fall within the definition of the elections as envisaged in article 226. Therefore, he argued, the voting for the Senate polls could be held through an open ballot.

The petitioner asked the court to strike down the method of the secret balloting in order to discourage the floor-crossing, use of “looted and laundered” money for buying votes in the Senate election.

He also urged the court to set aside section 122 (6) of the Elections Act 2017 for being ultra vires to articles 222 & 226 of the Constitution.

Published in Dawn, Jannuary 6th, 2021