Rabbani opposes open voting in Senate on technical grounds

ISLAMABAD: Former chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani opposed the government move on a constitutional amendment for election in Senate through show of hands on technical ground and suggested that instead of open vote, the name of the voter as a member of the provincial assembly be written on the ballot paper.

He said that during the previous session of the National Assembly, a government bill namely, “The Constitution (Twenty-Sixth Amendment) Bill, 2020, hereinafter referred to as, “the Bill” was introduced and referred to the Standing Committee on Law and Justice. That, “the Bill” seeks to amend Article 59, Constitution, 1973, to the extent of, in clause (2) of the said Article, replacing the word “transferable” with the word “open”,” he said.

Senator Raza Rabbani, while talking to The News, said one might not have qualms with the object, to the extent of transparent elections, but in essence the amendment to Article 59 as stipulated in “the Bill”, shall change the entire scheme of the Constitution, 1973, in as much as, it deals with and pertains to the composition and complexion of the Senate of Pakistan.

The former chairman said the parent National Assembly of the Constitution, 1973, with deliberate intent, included the words, “single transferable vote,” as this was in accordance with the constitutional agreement arrived at between all political parties at that time.

He said the intent, at that time was and is, representation of the parties in the Senate should be in the same proportion as they are represented in the provincial assembly. “The purpose being that all shades of political opinion existing in a provincial assembly are part of the mainstream of the federal structure through the Senate of Pakistan, regardless of their strength in the National Assembly of Pakistan,” he said.

He said the official verbatim of the “National Assembly of Pakistan (Constitution Making) Debate,” Official Report dated Sunday, the 31st December, 1972 at Page-11, is reproduced herein, wherein, the then Minister for Law Abdul Hafeez Pirzada (late) while making submissions to the House regarding the intent and rational for providing the federal structure stated as under:

“Sir, it has been provided that there shall be a federal structure –there shall be two Houses - to be called Parliament, The Lower House shall be the National Assembly, which will be the House of the People elected by direct adult franchise by secret ballot in accordance with delimited constituencies on the basis of the last census report and the National Assembly shall consist of 200 members. For a period of ten years, 10 seats have been reserved additionally for women. Representation has also been given to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and to the Federal Capital Area both in the Senate as well as in the Assembly.

The election to the Senate shall be by indirect franchise.