The election for the Senate polls 2021 in the National Assembly and three provincial assemblies is underway to elect 37 legislators for the upper house after allegations of horse-trading and the anxious failing approach of the ruling party to implement a ‘show of hands’.
Polling time began at 09:00 am which will keep on until 05:00 pm without a break. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has displayed a list of instructions outside the National Assembly. PTI lawmaker Mian Shafiq Arain cast the first vote while Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda polled the second vote.
Prominent among those who have cast their ballot are PM Imran, PPP Co-Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar and former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Strict steps and code of conduct
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja visited the National Assembly hall where polling for the 37 Senate seats is being held.
The chief election commissioner examined the polling process. The EC has established a telephone helpline and constituted a vigilance committee to stop electoral malpractices in the Senate elections.
The vigilance committee members include officials of ECL, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), and the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).
A management system had also been established to collect complaints by the election commission besides the establishment of a special monitoring cell which will be made functional for 24 hours for looking over the electoral process by the CEC.
The situation of Assemblies and candidates
All the 11 candidates for Senate from Punjab have already been elected unopposed while candidates from Federal Capital, Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be elected on Wednesday (today).
Two senators will be elected from the federal capital, 11 from Sindh and 12 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. 52 lawmakers in the upper house of 100 are set to retire on March 11 after completion of their six-year term.
A tough contest in the general seat
The close contest between and Opposition’s Yousaf Raza Gilani and PTI’s Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh could change the situation in the polls.
This contest will remain tough for the PTI as the Senate polls will be held through secret balloting. As many as 172 votes are required to be obtained from 342 MNAs to secure Senate general seat from Islamabad.
By having a look at the party strength in National Assembly, PTI and its allies have a total of 178 seats there while all Opposition parties including four independent legislators in the house have a total strength of 161.
Numerically, PTI has an upper hand over the Opposition for the Senate polls on the Islamabad seat. Although, the polls will become very close keeping in view the stature of former PM Yousaf Raza Gilani who has personal as well as family binds with many those political families in Sindh and Punjab.
The PDM is also trying to give an impression that the election on the general seat of Islamabad is a test case for it in order to materialize its idea of moving a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan in the future.
On the other hand, the ruling party has enhanced its efforts to ensure that no member of the ruling alliance should cross the floor and vote for Hafeez Sheikh while sensitizing the situation that PDM wanted to cause a dent through Gilani’s victory.
The unexpected situation for PTI
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, Opposition Leader Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh, Qaim Ali Shah and other PTI and PPP members cast their votes. The first vote in the Sindh Assembly was cast by Shabir Ali Bijarani.
The real trial of the PTI would be in the Sindh provincial Assembly where some of its legislators have announced to cast vote against the party guidance.
On one occasion, PTI President Karachi and Sindh Assembly member Khurram Sher Zaman were barred from casting his votes. Angry PTI lawmakers Aslam Abro and Shehryar Shar also cast their votes and fled to their homes to escape the media.
Election controversy
Allegations of horse-trading are present during every Senate poll however, the polls 2021 were marred by controversies over the process of voting as the PTI led government sought to hold them through open ballot while opposition redundant the idea.
The government filed a reference in the Supreme Court requesting for its opinion on whether the polls could be held through an open ballot, promulgated an ordinance, and recognized a constitutional amendment bill in the National Assembly. However, the court announced that Senate elections would be held through secret ballot under Article 226 of the Constitution.
The monitoring cell of the ECP has received two complaints so far regarding the ongoing Senate elections today. Complaints were received from KP, the Balochistan Assembly regarding the delay in the commencement of the voting process during Senate elections. Allegations of horse-trading on the raise as both major parties expressed concerns over the issue.
Chances of winning and losing
Members of the opposition and government expressed optimism over chances of victory in the Senate polls.
Despite claims and optimism, 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.
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 13 senators.
However, the close contest between the Opposition’s Yousaf Raza Gilani and PTI’s Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh could change the situation in the polls despite the ruling coalition will have its upper hand in the contest because of having its thin majority in the National Assembly.
This will be a competition between a loyal democrat against an economic hitman whose financial policies have led the country to an economic crisis and evens disaster. As far as the numbers are concerned, it will not be a tough job for Gilani to seize the victory as Dr Shaikh is said to be quite ostracized even within the king’s party due to his poor financial policies and inflation that he gifted the nation.
