The Senate is a body established to represent the provinces and other regions of the country and maintains a feeling of equality, harmony and peace, which is so crucial for the growth and prosperity of a nation. Hence, the Senate, over the years, has emerged as an indispensable organ and a stabilizing part of the federation in Pakistan.
The members of the Senate are elected by secret ballot, the senators from the four provinces are elected from the quota of members of their respective provincial assemblies, and the senators from Islamabad are elected by all the members of the National Assembly together.
Senate of Pakistan
The Senate of Pakistan is the upper house of the Parliament of the country. It consists of 104 senators with each senator serving a 6-year term. The elections are conducted triennially for half the seats in the senate.
In the Senate elections, the people do not vote directly; however, the elected members of the Assembly elect the senators. The members of the Senate are elected by secret ballot, the senators from the four provinces are elected from the quota of members of their respective provincial assemblies, and the senators from Islamabad are elected by all the members of the National Assembly together.
Terms of membership
The upper house of the Parliament consists of 104 senators with each senator serving a 6-year term. The elections are conducted triennially for half the seats in the senate.
This year, Senate elections are being held in Pakistan on March 3, 52 senators will retire from the Senate due to which 33 general seats, 8 technocrat seats, 9 women seats and two non-Muslim seats are becoming vacant.
Elections will be held for 48 Senate seats, four FATA seats will not be held due to which this time the Senate seats will be reduced from 104 to 100.
Retiring Senators
Over 65 percent of the senators who are set to retire on March 11, 2021, after completing their six-year constitutional term belong to the opposition parties.
The term-wise data of the senators shows that out of the 52 members retiring from the present 103-member Senate on March, 34 belong to the opposition parties and 18 from the treasury benches.
The PML-N will be the biggest loser in terms of representation in the Senate as 57 percent of its members are set to retire. The data shows that eight members of the PPP are among the 52 senators who will be completing their six-year term.
As far as the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) is concerned, seven of its present 14 senators — mostly from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — are due to retire next year.
The PTI, which got representation in the Senate for the first time in 2015, is not only set to improve its representation but also has the chance to become the single largest party in the house due to its numerical strength in the Punjab and KP assemblies.
Voting Procedure
A single transferable vote (single transferable vote) is an electoral system used for polling during elections. The system has been given different names in different countries, such as the Herculean system in Australia and the Choice Voting system in the United States. This process is part of proportional representation. In this, all the votes go to the candidates, not to the parties.
To understand how a Single Transferable (STV) count works let’s look at an imaginary Council Ward called Taghaidh. Taghaidh is a multi-member ward that is represented by 4 councilors.
One councilor has recently resigned and this leads to an election for the 1 vacancy or seat. On Polling day – voters in the Taghaidh voted by numbering their candidates in order of preference. They put a 1 next to their favorite candidate, a 2 next to their second favorite, a 3 by their third, and so on…..
Some people chose to number all the candidates; some choose just three or even just one. This is fine, you can number as many or as few as you like.
Status of Assemblies
Before reviewing the data under this formula, let me make it clear that the Senate election in the Punjab Assembly has been held unopposed and the final candidates have been declared successful due to the withdrawal of nomination papers by the contesting candidates for 11 seats here. The notification will be issued on March 3.
Sindh Assembly
In Sindh Assembly, there are 168 votes while elections will be held for 11 Senate seats, 7 General, 2 Technocrat and two Women’s seats.
Now if we look at the vote share here, if we talk about seven general seats, then a senator will be elected with 21.1 votes. Let’s say that a candidate will need 21.1 points to win a seat, while a technocrat will need 2. The two women’s seats will require 56.01 points or 56.01 votes.
In simple words, there are 20 candidates on one seat and the voter will list all the names on the slip. If so, the candidate with the highest number of points will be declared the winner.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly
If we talk about the Senate seats in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, then elections will be held for 12 seats, 7 generals, 2 technocrats, two women and one minority seat.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 145 members will exercise their voting right. Dividing 145 by 8 gives 18.01 and here the winner is the one who gets 18.2 points.
Similarly, for Technocrat, if we divide 145 by 3, we will get 48.3 and 48.4 points. Dividing a minority seat by two will result in 72.05 and the candidate who gets 72.6 points will be declared the winner.
Balochistan Assembly
In the Balochistan Assembly, 65 members will cast their votes in the Senate elections. Polls will also be held here for 12 Senate seats, 7 generals, 2 technocrats, two women and one minority seat. If 65 votes are divided by 7 will result in 9.2 and the candidate who gets 9. 3 points will be declared the winner.
Islamabad
In Islamabad, there will be a general seat and a women’s seat and there are 341 votes due to the lack of one seat in the 342-member House. And if the votes divided by two, then 170.05 and the candidate who gets 170.06 points will be declared successful and the same formula will be applicable for the women’s seat.
Conclusion
The federal government has already moved a presidential reference in the Court for seeking an open vote for the Senate. The Supreme Court is thus far to take a decision on the reference. On the other hand, the opposition has already pronounced that they will not support such a reference at a time when the polls are just ahead.
Although, whatever process is adopted for the Senate elections, the calculations based on the party position in all the legislatures disclosed that if all the lawmakers vote according to the policy of their respective parties, the ruling PTI is expected to win 20 seats, followed by six seats each by the PPP and BAP and five by the PML-N in the upcoming Senate polls.
And if it happens, the ruling PTI will become the single largest party in the Senate with more than 26 senators, followed by the PPP with 18, PML-N with 17 and BAP with 12 or 13 senators.
