Pak Oppn claims ‘spy cams’ were installed at Senate polling booths
ISLAMABAD: Hours before Pakistan’s Senate elected a new chairman on Friday, opposition lawmakers claimed to have found six spy cameras at the polling booths.
Sadiq Sanjrani, the candidate backed by Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ruling Pakistan Tehreeke-Insaf, won another term as Senate chairman on Friday in a boost for the PM and in a major defeat for the joint opposition, which has a majority in the upper house.
In the special session, Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Raza Rabbani claimed that “secret cameras” had been installed at the polling booths, according a report in the Dawn newspaper.
Speaking to reporters, Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, another lawmaker from PPP, made the same allegation, accusing intelligence agencies of installing the cameras to boost support for the governmentbacked candidates for chairman.
Khokhar shared pictures on Twitter of what he claimed were spy cameras that he and Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Musadiq Malik had found at a polling booth. Authorities have ordered a probe into the claims and removed the devices, vote supervisor, Senator Muzaffar Hussain Shah, told reporters.
Pakistani opposition’s newly elected Senator Yusuf Raza Gilani received 42 valid votes to 48 votes received by Sanjrani, who was the outgoing chairman of the Senate.
Seven votes cast in favour of Gilani were rejected because they were stamped incorrectly. Another was rejected because it named both candidates.