Ali Haider Gilani responds to Senate video leak

ISLAMABAD: PPP MPA Ali Haider Gilani has defended his decision to meet the members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to ask for votes for his father Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, who is a joint candidate of the PDM in the Senate’s elections.

His response came a few hours after a video surfaced on social media platforms in which Ail Haider Gilani was seen meeting the PTI MPAs.

In his defence, Ali Haider said that he had asked the PTI lawmakers to vote according to their conscience.

He also accused Prime Minister Imran Khan of planning to steal the votes by having them marked in advance.

“When the PTI members of the Assembly expressed their concern to me that the vote had been stolen by marking it in advance, I suggested to them to reject the vote in accordance with their conscience. It is clear from the leaked video that Imran Khan has already planned to steal votes by marking them,” Haider tweeted.

On the other hand, the federal government has decided to file a reference against Ali Haider Gilani.

“The Election Commission has taken notice of the video of the sale and purchase of the Senate election. This is a very welcome move and the PTI welcomes it. A reference to the disqualification of the PDM candidate will also be filed in the Election Commission shortly,” Fawad Chaudhry tweeted.

Talking to media on the occasion, Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that the embarrassing video has once again raised questions over the system of Senate elections. Major changes are needed in the system, he added.

Fawad Chaudhry said that despite having the technology, the Election Commission says that it will be used next year. “Should we let the upcoming elections be held as they used to even after seeing the video”, he asked.

“Unfortunately, the video has disproved ECP’s argument. It is hoped that the Chief Election Commissioner will take immediate notice of the video”, said the Minister.