Control of new Senate committees: Opposition retains edge, though narrower, over government

ISLAMABAD: The opposition parties will retain their edge, though significantly narrower than before, over the ruling coalition in the Senate standing committees given their slight numerical superiority.

Official data shows that the constituent parties of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) have a total of 51 senators, excluding Ishaq Dar who is in London, as against the governing alliance’s tally of 47 members. The solitary Jamaat-e-Islami senator doesn’t support either side.

In the March 12 Senate chairman’s election, Sadiq Sanjarani, the candidate of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its allies, had secured 48 votes compared to the 42 ballots of the losing PDM nominee, Yousaf Raza Gillani.

Syed Muzaffar Shah, who had presided over the chairman’s election, had declared in his ruling that the seven votes he had declared as invalid had been cast in favour of Gillani. In light of his decision, the PDM’s strength -- including legitimate and discarded ballots-- had reached 49, which proved a small opposition majority over the government.

The Senate has more than three dozen standing committees. As per tradition and norms, the posts of their chairmen are allocated to the parliamentary parties in accordance with their numerical strength in the Senate. Their members are inducted into these bodies in line with the respective numerical power of their parties.

Amid the deep political polarisation and ever-intensifying tension, the chairmen and members of the House strictly follow the line given by their parties. This was amply reflected in the outgoing parliamentary panels where the ruling coalition was given a tough time.

The government had always been handicapped in getting its choice bills through these panels with an aggressive opposition determined to put up roadblocks. Given the new numerical scenario, the opposition parties will clinch more than 50 percent of positions of chairmen of the House committees and the same would be the case with representation of their members in the committees.

Despite the incessant political conflict, both sides of the divide usually agree in formal and informal discussions with the involvement of the chairman on the formula of allotting the positions of the chiefs of the committee and their members.

This has been the preferred option rather than the alternative of going for an election for these posts in the Senate. Once an agreement is reached, their approval of the House becomes just a formality.

When the present National Assembly had come into being as a result of the 2018 general elections, serious differences had emerged between the two sides over the composition and the allotment of the offices of the chairmen of certain committees.

One of them was the Public Accounts Committee. However, an accord was ultimately reached and the stand-off was resolved amicably. Since the word go, the Senate committees have traditionally been vibrant and have exhaustively discussed national issues. However, their performance too was deeply affected by politics over the past three years due to the overall tense relations between the government and the opposition.

The Senate has standing committees for every ministry and division. Besides, it has panels on government assurances, problems of less developed areas, human rights, and rules of procedure and privileges. It also has functional committees.

The opposition’s minor edge in the Senate bodies will also have an impact on law-making. Some senior PTI leaders have made it known that the government will now aggressively carry out legislation and get cleared all the vital bills that had long been held up owing to its previous weak position in the Senate.

Although the ruling coalition has greatly improved its numbers in the Upper House of Parliament recently, its position is still short of even a simple majority --is far from a position where it can make the laws of its liking single-handedly. The government will still have to depend on the opposition and also its allied parties to implement its legislative agenda.

More than once in the past, the opposition-controlled Senate had rejected different official bills via disapproving resolutions. Finally, the government had to go for a joint session of parliament to get certain of these bills approved amid the opposition parties’ boycott.

As a result of the importance and complexity of its work, the Senate divides its tasks amongst committees. The chairman of each body represents the majority party and controls its business. Each party assigns its own members to committees, and each body distributes its members amongst sub-panels.

With a total membership of not more than 14 members, the minister or adviser concerned becomes an ex-officio member of the committee. However, he is not entitled to vote unless he is a senator. A member cannot be a part of more than five standing committees at the same time.

There are limits on the number and types of committees served by one senator. The main purpose of a committee is to interrogate executive organisations regarding issues of public importance. Hearings are held to gather information and views from non-committee experts.

The committees also meet to review amendments. A committee's influence extends to the enactment of bills into law. Committee hearings are arranged on the implementation and investigation of programmes. These are known as oversight hearings.