LAHORE, MAR 05 (DNA) – The Lahore High Court on Monday issued notices to Election Commission of Pakistan, the federal government and other respondents while hearing a petition seeking court orders to declare Senate elections ‘null and void’ held allegedly through ‘horse trading’.

The plea in this regard was filed by the Judicial Activism Panel.

It was contended in a petition that voting on a Senate seat of Nehal Hashmi was not held through secret balloting. The plea said Senate polls could only be held through secret ballot as envisaged in the Constitution.

The petitioner said PML-N lawmakers cast their votes by making it public, which is “tantamount to rigging and violating the Constitution.”

It was stated in a petition that horse-trading allowed leaders ineligible under Article 62-63 of the Constitution to grab the Senate seat.

The court heard the plea and issued notices to ECP, government and other respondents.

The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has emerged as the majority party in the Upper House of Pakistan’s parliament with 33 seats after clinching 15 more  in Saturday’s Senate election.

The overall strength of PML-N in Senate has increased to 33 after securing 15 seats, closely followed by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) with 20 seats, according to official results.

PPP won 12 seats in total with 10 from Sindh province, while Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) managed to win a total of six seats.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had declared the PML-N Senate candidates as independent in the aftermath of the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s ruling over the petitions challenging the Election Act 2017, which removed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif as the party president.