andMuhammad Ali Saif on seats of technocrats and Sassi Palejo and Nighat Mirza on women’s reserved seats.
Half of the members of the Senate are to retire on March 11 after completing their term.Chief Election Commissioner Justice (R) Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, in a late night statement, cautioned that strict action would be taken against the lawmakers involved in horse trading according to the law if tangible and solid poof is provided.
According to parliamentary sources, PPP is expected to pocket about seven Senate seats, bringing its tally of seats to 26 while PML-N can also get 15 to 16 seats. Hence both parties will be in close contest to grab the seat of the Senate chairman, as the incumbent Chairman Syed Nayyar Hussain Bokhari will also bow out.
The election of the Senate chairman and deputy chairman, needless to say, will bring into focus the smaller parties, whose cooperation will play the crucial part in the electoral process. Ahmed Hassan adds: It would be first time that two members of the lower house – Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and Jamshed Dasti – announced boycott to protest what they alleged massive rigging. Their boycott will make little impact on overall results but their act would be written in the parliamentary history.
It is first time that rival parties PML-N and PTI converged on the principle that the financial corruption be stopped on all costs even if it involves legislation and prepared the ground for enacting Article 22 to the Constitution making sale purchase of votes impossible.
A disturbing peculiarity of these polls will be a technical knockout of five out of eleven MNAs from Fata who will have no or little role in electing four senators as six other MNAs have forged their separate group to vote for their own favourite candidates apparently under some hidden understanding.
Thus PML-N-backed MNA Shahabuddin Khan on Wednesday staged a token walk-out from the National Assembly in protest against what he said failure of the parliament in blocking the way of illegal financial manipulation.