Pak Senate polls: Imran Khan's PTI may face setback as 6 MPAs unlikely to vote for candidates

Karachi [Pakistan], March 2 (ANI): The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) might suffer a setback in the upcoming Senate elections tomorrow as at least six lawmakers of the party are unlikely to cast votes for its candidates in the Upper House polls.
According to a PTI insider, three more MPAs, including a lawmaker elected on a minority seat, are not in contact with the PTI leadership and are likely to announce that they will not vote for the party candidates, reported The News International.
Prior to this, three PTI MPAs, including Karim Bux Gabol, Shahryar Khan Shar and Aslam Abro, had announced on Monday that they would not cast votes for the PTI candidates in the Senate election.
The decision of the three lawmakers came accusations from PTI that the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) was pressurising its MPAs to change loyalties in the Senate polls.
Alarmed over the developments, the Prime Minister Imran Khan-led party has directed all its MPAs to assemble at a local hotel by Tuesday from where they would be taken together to cast vote in the Sindh Assembly to avoid any 'poaching of its votes'.
In a press conference on Monday, PTI's opposition leader in Sindh Assembly Firdous Shamim Naqvi and PTI Karachi President Khurram Sherzaman Khurram Sherzaman alleged that PPP is using pressure tactics through the Sindh Police including registration of baseless cases, reported The News International.
Zaman had said that three PTI MPAs had been kidnapped are not in touch. "Their last location was in Defence," he said.
Naqvi demanded the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to take action against 'horse-trading' of the PPP in Sindh province for the Senate polls, according to the Pakistani daily.
This development comes as the Pakistan Senate polls will commence on March 3.
This announcement came days after Pakistan President Arif Alvi had signed the Elections (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 to pave the way for Senate elections to be held via an "open and identifiable ballot".
However, two days before the Senate polls, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that elections for the upper house of parliament have to be conducted through secret ballot as required under the Constitution. (ANI)