Pakistan, Aug. 30 -- In an important development, the federal cabinet on Saturday approved to abolish the practice of secret balloting in the Senate elections, a private TV channel reported.

Sources familiar with the matter said that the vote will possess information about both the voter and the chosen candidate. The proposal to conduct elections by 'show of hand' has been rejected.

According to the amended draft, which will be presented before the parliament in a few days, the Senate elections will be conducted by a single transferable open vote. The new rule has been introduced to stop the practice of selling of votes during the Senate elections.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Daily Times....