ISLAMABAD: PTI chairman Imran Khan said his party was sending show cause notices to 20 lawmakers “who had sold their votes in the Senate elections.”

“All the lawmakers will be sacked from the party and their names will be forwarded to National Accountability Bureau if they fail to respond,” Khan said, addressing a press conference in federal capital on Wednesday.

Showcase notices are being issued to: Nargis Ali, Dina Naz, Nagina Khan, Fozia Bibi, Naseem Hayat, Sardar Idrees, Ubaid Ullah Mayar, Zahid Durrani, Abdul Haq, Javed Nasim, Yaseen Khalil, Meraj Humayun, Babar Saleem, Wajih-uz-Zaman, Qurban Khan, Khatoon Bibi, Faisal Zaman, Arif Yousaf, Samiullah Alizai and Amjad Afridi.

“No matter how much damage it would cause to the PTI, we are prepared for it. Such actions are crucial to restore the sanctity of votes,” Khan said.

“Where was Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi when we were demanding Senate reforms to prevent horse-trading? It’s been going on for 25 years.”

Khan said that Pakistan must go for direct Senate’s elections to stop corruption in the voting process.

The PTI chairman said lawmakers were offered Rs. 40 million to sell their votes in the Senate elections, adding that not only PTI MPs but members of other parties had also sold their votes.

Nagina Khan, one of the 20 lawmakers, has denied the allegations.

“I didn’t sell my vote,” she said. “I had voted in the Senate elections according to party decision.”

Another MPA Amjad Afridi said he had been expelled from the PTI by Shah Mehmood Qureshi and he was free to vote for anyone he wanted.

“Imran Khan is actually Ilzaam Khan,” he said.

PML-N, PTI, MQM-P and other parties had all expressed reservations over suspected horse trading in the recently held senate elections.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had said the country can’t earn respect in the world with “this kind of Senate elections that were contested through the power of money”.

“An election where votes were sold and purchased got us a chairman who was not known in the political circles before. It is sad to have such a person as chairman of the Senate, an institution that represents the federation,” Abbasi told media last month.

Nawaz Sharif, the PML-N supremo had called for legislation to halt horse trading, saying that his party would consult with other parties to make a law to stop use of money in the elections.