Senate polls reference: NA speaker, Senate chairman decide to be on the same page in court

• NA speaker, Senate chairman decide to take joint stance over presidential reference in Supreme Court
• Qaiser and Sanjrani will have separate legal counsel
• On January 4, SC had issued notices to the federal and provincial advocate generals, the NA speaker and speakers of the provincial assemblies and the ECP

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser and Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani are willing to be on the same page over the presidential reference on the Senate elections in the Supreme Court.

The two men met Monday and made a decision to take a joint stance in their views before the apex court through their separate legal counsel, The News reported.

The NA speaker approved the name of senior lawyer Latif Yousafzai as his legal counsel to represent the National Assembly in the SC, while Senator Muhammad Ali Saif will represent the Senate.

Senate polls: Pakistan top court issues notices to advocate generals, ECP

Qaiser and Sanjrani also discussed matters relating to parliamentary affairs and upcoming legislation. Both decided to strengthen their policy of consultations with the parliamentary leaders of their respective houses for better legislation.

The presidential reference

On January 4, the apex court had issued notices to the federal and provincial advocate generals, the NA speaker and speakers of the provincial assemblies and the Election Commission of Pakistan for a hearing of the presidential reference for holding Senate elections by open ballot.

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

The reference read that the president has sought the apex court's opinion on whether the condition of holding a secret ballot referred to in Article 226 of the Constitution is applicable only for the elections held under the Constitution such as the election to the office of president, speakers and deputy speakers of the Parliament and provincial assemblies and "not to other elections such as the election for the members of Senate" held under the Elections Act 2017 enacted to pursuant to Article 222 read with Entry 41 (1) of the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution "which may be held by way of secret or open ballot" as provided for in the Act.

SC allows Sindh a week to respond in Senate polls reference

According to the government, the nature of the elections and the way it is conducted has not been clearly mentioned in the Constitution.

The government said election for the Senate is conducted in accordance with the Election Act of 2017 and asked if it is possible to introduce the idea of open-balloting in the upper house of the Parliament.