PPP, PML-N prepare for close fight for Senate chairman

ISLAMABAD: Drama, suspense and anxiety gripped the Senate polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and for four Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), jeopardising the scheduled polling to elect new Senate chairman and his deputy on March 12.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s hypothesis that many members of the Punjab Assembly (MPAs) will defect in the Senate elections, showing their utter resentment against the Shahbaz Sharif government for ignoring them, turned out to be phony as the ruling party emerged as a monolithic entity.
Despite having no sufficient numbers, the PPP was desperate to have Nadim Afzal Chan elected as senator although it knew that it did not have the required strength. But it continued its efforts to land him in the Senate on the sole perception that since several MPAs were extremely unhappy with the chief minister, they would vote for its nominee.
This is an old premise of different political forces about the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which has never proved correct. Chan could muster only 27 votes while he needed almost double these ballots to win. He secured seven additional votes over and above his actual supporters, which were said to be of the PML-N lawmakers. The PPP’s Sarwat Malik contesting for a women’s seat could bag only 24 votes. The PPP’s desperate bid to squeeze at least one seat from Punjab failed and was unable to fuel any massive defections in the ruling party.
If the PPP’s expectations in Punjab dashed, the PML-N received a jolt in Balochistan, suffering defections as it lost two seats there. It could clinch only three seats as against its calculation, five seats. Its two seats were taken away by independent Mir Yousuf Badini, who has just retired as a PPP senator, and Jehanzeb Jamaldini of Balochistan National Party-Awami (BNP-A) headed by Akhtar Mengal. This was considered as an upset in Balochistan.
The BNP-A just has only one seat in the Balochistan assembly. Whatever ‘horse-trading’ took place pertained to these two seats. The Pakistan Television said that Badini was backed by the PML-N.
Balochistan Speaker Jan Jamali, belonging to the PML-N, faced humiliation as his daughter he had sponsored as independent, openly defying the party discipline, was routed.As predicted much before the polling in Punjab and Sindh, there was unusual activity here and every parliamentary party got as many Senate seats as were due to them as per their numerical power.
As usual the government acted belatedly by promulgating a presidential order changing the procedure of voting for the Fata candidates although what was introduced was positive.
However, the confused Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had no powers not to hold the election for Fata senators because it was not barred by any court although the order had been challenged in the Supreme Court and Islamabad High Court.
According to the previous method, brought in by Pervez Musharraf, every Fata member of the National Assembly was supposed to give four preferences to the competitors in the field. This means that a cluster of only six MNAs (out of the existing 11 MPs) was enough to elect four senators, thus rendering five other MNAs irrelevant. The presidential order dispensed with this method and introduced one man one vote system.
The PML-N, having three Fata MNAs, was going to be deprived of election of even one senator, which persuaded it to issue the presidential order. However, it was imprudent to promulgate it at the last minute. It could have been done a few weeks before the polling, foreseeing the situation.
As per the results of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, the PML-N’s total tally now stands at 24 senators (eight sitting and sixteen newly elected ones). Apart from the clean sweep in Punjab by winning all the eleven seats, the PML-N also got both the seats from the federal capital and three from Balochistan.
Sitting independent Senator Mohsin Leghari from Punjab already supports the PML-N. Its allies including the National Party (NP) and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP) bagged three seats each in Balochistan. In addition, Badini and Jamaldini are likely to go with the PML-N in the election of the Senate chairman and his deputy.
On the other hand, the PPP now has 26 senators including 19 previous and seven newly elected ones. Given the bonhomie prevailing between the two parties, the MQM may support the PPP in the Senate chief’s election.
Besides, the Jamiat Ulemae Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) now has four senators, three previous and one elected from Balochistan. It is now close to the PPP but at the same time it is also a partner in the PML-N led ruling coalition at the federal level.
Importantly, the PML-N elected three figures - Nihal Hashmi, Saleem Zia and Dr Raheela Magsi, two from Punjab and one from Islamabad. Similarly, it elected a leader from the KP Zafar Iqbal Jhagra from the federal capital.
Most of the newly elected senators are old faces, who have been members of the Upper House of Parliament.In KP, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak made hectic efforts to get the elections postponed fearing desertions, but in vain.