Swati urges Fazl to rethink siding with PDM after Haideri's defeat.

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Railways Azam Khan Swati has stressed the need of electoral reforms for the country's betterment.

Addressing a news conference along with newly elected Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani on Sunday, he said that electoral procedure should be made easier to bring transparency in elections.

The minister said: "If the opposition is sensible, if they wish to serve democracy, they must know that reforms can only be brought with the law and Constitution." He said the government simply seeks to make the Senate election process "so transparent that everyone should know who voted for whom".

"The only way to defeat this practice of vote buying is by implementing what Imran Khan is saying," Swati said. He also called for the 39 amendments in the Election Act that he has filed to be passed by the parliament.

Swati said that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) "rejected" Maulana Fazlur Rehman's candidate in the Senate election and he should now rethink siding with the opposition alliance. Swati's remarks referred to the defeat of Haideri, who is a member of the Fazlur Rehman-led JUI-F party, and who obtained 44 votes versus Mirza Muhammad Afridi's 54.

"PDM rejected [Fazlur Rehman's] candidate. There is no room for him [in the alliance] now," the minister said. "He should think again if he wants...