Who is making Senate controversial?

ISLAMABAD: The very fact that the Senate remained incomplete without Fata after March 5 election has made the whole exercise “controversial.” The role of the President House and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has raised many questions about the credibility of the process despite expected results in the Punjab and Sindh and few upsets in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The manner in which the ECP conducted the polls in the KP and the setback for PML-N in Balochistan is enough to establish “horse-trading.” People normally consider bribing individual MPAs as horse-trading. It is not always in cash; at times it is in kind also. It can come in the form of offering ministries to the coalition partners or those not happy with the government, few appointments of officers etc.
The second phase of horse-trading will start with the new schedule of elections for Fata MNAs who will elect four senators. This will be followed by the third phase when the chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate will be elected. Independent and smaller parties will have a crucial role in the third phase of elections.
But the manner in which the Presidential Order, not ordinance, was issued has also exposed the neutrality of the President House though the president is bound to follow the advice of the prime minister under the Constitution. The president is also the head of the state and this responsibility demands him not to follow unconstitutional orders, if any. It must be probed if the president was “misinformed” about the legal hindrance in issuance of such an order and that too few hours before the polling or he deliberately acted on the advice of the prime minister.
The president’s role can come under debate in the forthcoming session of the National Assembly and the Senate. Despite being a Muslim Leaguer and a close confidant of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Mamnoon Hussain is also the President of Pakistan and he must seek an explanation from the “legal minds” sitting at the President House or in the government for “ill-advising” him to issue a later night executive order.
The decision should have been taken a month earlier or even after the government had reached the conclusion that the 22nd Amendment is not possible. Even if they had lost two Fata seats, the government always has an upper hand when it comes to the election of chairman and deputy chairman.
Thus the order has damaged the credibility of the president’s office, which otherwise is a symbolic position. Mamnoon Hussain is a simple man, who enjoys a good reputation and despite being the PML-N true-blue, one expects him to raise this issue with the prime minister. Will he do so is another question?
I still remember a meeting with the president along with a group of senior journalists in Karachi and was shocked to hear that he had not read the minutes of the cabinet meeting which were sent to him. I’m not sure whether in the last two years he has written even a soft letter to the government, reminding the PM to improve his governance or showed his concern over certain matters relating to the law and order. Now I come to the role of the ECP in dealing with the presidential order. It is strange that instead of allowing the Fata MNAs to cast their votes as per rules and rejecting the order, it threw the ball in government’s court and postponed the polling. The move has allowed the government either to withdraw the presidential order or to bring a fresh amendment.
Why the ECP did not take a position like the one it took on the secret ballot when the government was planning to bring 22nd Amendment. If no changes could be made to the rules after the election schedule is announced, why the same position was not taken in Fata case?
The role of the ECP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa must be thoroughly investigated. Why the KP elections were not called off after 4 pm when the members refuse to come to the assembly hall? Why extra four hours were given and maneuvering was allowed? How come six blank pages were recovered from the ballot box? Why the sanctity of the ballot was allowed to be eroded? Will the ECP take notice of the “missing MPA”?
The manner in which the Senate elections were conducted has also raised serious doubts about the ECP’s capacity to hold local bodies’ elections, which will be a huge exercise much larger than the general elections.
It’s strange that it took almost 14 to 16 hours to complete the results whereas all the other assemblies completed the job within the stipulated period.
It’s high time that the ECP should take some bold steps. Former chief election commissioner, Justice (retired) Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim could be criticised for not being able to control the alleged rigging, but the very fact that he resigned a month after the elections, leaving handsome salary and other perks, shows his character. In fact, he had told all those who asked him to accept this job that he would leave the post after the elections.
The Supreme Court did the right thing by ensuring that the local bodies elections in the cantonment boards and in all the four provinces be held this year. This also reflects the undemocratic behaviour of our democratic leadership, which failed in fulfilling this constitutional obligation. What a pity, that the census could not be held in the country since 1998. We even don’t know what is the exact population of Pakistan today.
The outcome of the result of the Senate election could be an eye opener for the PML-N and PTI. Both parties faced internal dissent due to horse trading and anger against the party leadership. Despite improving its position in the Senate, the PML-N suffered the most in all the four provinces. In Punjab, where they had a clean sweep, they need to find out the dissenting voices in the form of rejected votes.
They also need to find out who voted for the PPP candidate and who got more votes than expected. In Sindh, they are already facing a lot of problems because of revolt within the party. The problem in Sindh will not be solve by accommodating just three from Sindh on the Punjab quota i.e. Nihal Hashmi, Saleem Zia and Mushahidullah, though they all stood with the party in difficult times.
The major problem for the PML-N will be in Balochistan where its veteran Sardar Yusuf lost because of Jan Mohammad Jamali factor. The PML-N split is likely to widen in the coming days after Jamal’s daughter lost and an independent candidate won because of defection.
But, this election is an eye-opener for Imran Khan and his party. If they had resigned from the National Assembly and provincial assemblies on the basis of their claim that the 2013 general elections were massively rigged, then why not now? Will they do the same since the Senate elections were also highly controversial, though many have raised questions about their own conduct? If the PTI decides to stay in the Senate and does not question horse-trading or ask its senators to quit, what is wrong in returning to the National Assembly and the Punjab and Sindh assemblies? If it has accepted the ECP and the Senate polls and takes part in the local bodies’ elections, why it is depriving its MNAs and MPAs of their constitutional right to represent their electorate?