The Senate games

Less than two weeks before the Senate elections are scheduled to be held, a deep analysis of how this supposedly august Upper House has performed would be in place, though no exceptional achievement can be recalled. A house which should have saner and wiser old men thinking about bigger issues and visionary solutions, the Senate has instead become a sanctuary for political favorites, cronies and those who can buy their way up. This is a sad fact of our perverted political culture. The PML-N has never been worried about all this but now – since it fears a secret ballot may cause it a seat or two – it has hurriedly proposed a constitutional amendment, to change the voting procedure from secret ballot to a show of hands. According to the constitution, voting for every position except prime minister and chief ministers must be done secretly. The PML-N’s rationale for a change is that it will prevent horse-trading. Obviously the PML-N is doing this out of self-interest since it stands to gain the most seats in the Senate and will have the most to lose if disgruntled party members vote for candidates of different parties in the secret ballot. We still recall that some years ago MPs showed their ballot papers even to cameras, just to confirm that they had stood by the deals they had struck. No one had then taken any serious note of those shameful acts. The PML-N has found an unlikely ally in its quest to amend the constitution in the form of the PTI, with Imran Khan also railing against the possibility of horse-trading. He too must be worried about defections in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, whose members have been on the verge of revolt for months now over the resignations handed in by the party at the centre and Punjab and Sindh assemblies. That all this is happening just because of fear and vested interest is unfortunate and shows that our leaders do not take positions on principles and do not fail to show indecent haste when it comes to enhancing their numbers and retaining power or getting more of it.
The debate over the constitutional amendment may be moot since the PML-N has very little time to ram it through parliament and the PPP, which has dampened the government move by saying no to it and still has the most seats in the Senate, may use every procedural hurdle to stymie it. Should the vote for the Senate elections go along party lines the PML-N will have the most seats in the Senate but not a majority. The PPP is hoping to get enough secret defections to have a chance of keeping the Senate chairman post and has approached both the MQM and JUI-F to support it. Rehman Malik, in particular, has been angling for the MQM’s support since he is worried that representatives from Sindh loyal to the disgruntled Zulfiqar Mirza will vote against him. Malik is hoping not just to be re-elected as a senator from Sindh but also to become the next chairman of the Senate. Should the constitutional amendment pass, though it seems unlikely now, he and his party will have to conduct their negotiations in the open and possibly offer the MQM and other parties more Senate seats in exchange for their support in electing a new chairman. Whether the amendment passes or not, the wrangling and politicking by all parties has been an unedifying spectacle. The Upper House must do some soul searching to determine whether it deserves the high pedestal that it enjoys in the constitution. So far it has been simply pedestrian and at times even farcical.