Senate. When the Benazir Bhutto-led PPP had won the 1988 general elections with a thin margin, her government had not a single member in the Upper House. During her turbulent 20-month rule, the prime minister had appeared in the Senate only once and her government had not been able to enact even a single piece of legislation, relying solely on issuance of presidential ordinances for the day-to-day functioning. At the time, the PML had the Senate under its firm grip, and it had exploited its position all the time.
The Benazir Bhutto government was immensely handicapped precisely as the present administration has been. The previous Senate was extremely aggressive against the PPP regime exactly as the current Upper House has been against the PML-N government.
All sorts of adversaries of the PML-N are now hell-bent not to let the stage come when it will get a secure position in the election to 52 senators, half of the chamber, in coming March. This is a nightmarish scenario for its opponents, who are determined to avert it come what may. It is in this background that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is on a solo flight, demanding snap elections. One of the items of this ambitious agenda is to deprive the PML-N of its impending majority in the Senate.
Given their numerical strength in the present provincial assemblies, the PML-N and its partners will certainly bag a clear majority in the Senate. The PPP, which presently stands on the second position in the Upper House, will have its status drastically diminished.
Hardly any nominee of the opposition parties, their strength counted together, will be in a position to win from the Punjab assembly in March because the PML-N enjoys unprecedented majority there. In Balochistan Assembly, the situation will not be different as the PML-N and its associates including the National Party, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party will get almost all the allocated Senate seats, leaving nothing for the PPP. The PTI has no presence whatsoever in this provincial legislature.
In the Sindh Assembly, the PPP and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) will share the allotted quota of Senate seats. The PML-N, PTI or any other political party have nothing to take from this legislature.
In the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly, the allocated share of the Senate seats will go to the PTI, Jamaat-e-Islami and opposition parties like the PML-N, JUI-F, Awami National Party and Qaumi Watan Party of Aftab Sherpao.