The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) has issued a written order regarding a reference seeking court’s opinion on holding the upcoming Senate polls through open ballot.

The reference was sent by President Arif Alvi in which he sought out court’s opinion under article 188 of the constitution.

In the reference, the government has sought the opinion of the court if the issue can be decided without amending the constitution and introducing an amendment in section 122 (vi) of the Election Act 2017.

In its written order, the apex court has issued notices to advocate generals, chairman Senate, speakers of the national and provincial assemblies and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The court has directed them to submit their replies in written before the apex court.

Supreme Court has also asked any other stakeholder who wanted to become part of the proceedings to submit their written recommendation to them within two weeks.

The hearing of the reference will be conducted on January 11.

It is worth to mention here that a five-judge larger bench headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and comprising Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan and Justice Yahya Afridi, heard the reference on January 04.