PML-N may not win expected Senate seats from Balochistan

ISLAMABAD: Watching present political situation in Balochistan it seems that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) would be unable to win the expected Senate seats from the province in case the provincial assembly survives till the poll to the half of the Upper House of Parliament in March.

According to its numerical strength in the Balochistan Assembly, the PML-N was all set to clinch at least four Senate seats from this province. But the revolt of its almost entire parliamentary party except former Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri may dash its hopes.

There is a possibility that the PML-N may manage a single seat if Zehri’s supporters, who had not committed support to the no-confidence motion against him but later voted for Abdul Qaddus Bizenjo, chose to stand with him as well as their party.

For all practical purposes the rule of the PML-N and its allies – National Party headed by Hasil Bizenjo and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) led by Mehmood Achakzai – in Balochistan ended with the election of Bizenjo as the chief minister.

For over four and a half years, they together decided who will be the chief minister for how many years as per an agreement reached immediately after the 2013 general election when they joined hands.

The new lucky man in Balochistan has the distinction of securing the lowest number of votes, 544, in the 2013 election to get himself elected from troubled Awaran.

Bizenjo belongs to the PML-Q, but his affiliation with it is precisely similar to those elected on the PML-N tickets. The PML-Q hardly celebrated the election of its lawmaker as the chief minister and is not known to have interacted with him and its other lawmakers in Balochistan since 2013.

While the PML-N suffered a massive setback in the whole drama starting with the submission of a no-confidence motion against Zehri, its allied parties – the NP and PkMAP – largely remained intact with the exception of defection of three legislators of the former and one lawmaker of the latter, who voted for Bizenjo against the calls of their parliamentary leaders in the provincial assembly.

The NP and PkMAP will be broadly able to get their nominees elected as the senators. Being allies of the PML-N, their gains will be counted with its overall tally that it will bag in the Senate election.

Considering the number of their legislators minus the defectors, the NP will still be able to elect one or two senators while the PkMAP will be in a position to elect three if their deserters maintained their present support to Bizenjo.

Except their floor-crossers, the NP abstained from the voting while the PkMAP took part in the process.

Now a question will arise as to which party or parties will occupy the opposition benches? Previously, the Jamiate Ulemae Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) was the main opposition party and had its nominee as the leader of opposition in the Provincial Assembly. A couple of days before the voting and after Zehri’s resignation, it declared that it and other opposition parties will vote for Bizenjo but will maintain their status as the opposition.

The office of the opposition leader is very important because the caretaker chief minister will be appointed by him and the outgoing chief minister in mutual consultations.

However, now the NP and PkMAP have practically become the real opposition parties for having either opposed Bizenjo or abstained from voting. In view of its numerical position, which stands at eight, the JUI-F will be able to elect more than one nominee as senator in March.

The PkMAP’s losing candidate said after Bizenjo’s election that it has been proved that his party was the only force that has not acted on anybody’s behest and independently took its decisions. He also echoed a general perception about the survival of the Provincial Assembly when he said that it was being talked about that the legislature will be dissolved in two to three weeks to block the Senate election and create a crisis. He sought an assurance from the new chief minister not to do so as it will be no service to democracy.

Bizenjo made an encouraging announcement that the assembly will not be dissolved to abort the Senate election.