The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has decided to hold the Senate elections in February instead of March, reported Geo News.

The decided to change the date of the polls was taken amid protests by the opposition parties, who have threatened to march on Islamabad in Feb if the prime minister fails to step down.

Unlike previous elections of the upper house, this time the voting will be through ‘show of hands’, the report claimed. However, in order to change the Senate election procedure, the government will need an amendment for which it doesn’t have the required majority or approach the Supreme Court.

Addressing a press conference following a weekly meeting of the federal cabinet, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz said that the government is striving to make the Senate elections “free and fair”.

“Controversies have always surrounded the Senate elections. It is such an old practice that it is assumed that in the elections, [horse trading] will surely take place,” he said.

He said the government has decided to move the apex court regarding the reforms in Senate elections. “The government seeks an election that is conducted through a “show of hands”, Faraz said, adding that the government expects to get guidance from the SC long before the elections.

“This is in favour of all parties,” he said.