There is never a dull moment in our national politics. The latest issue generating a lot of excitement and anxiety is horse-trading - said to be in full swing - for the upcoming Senate elections. It started with press reports about a real estate tycoon buying votes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly for the candidates of a certain political party (no prizes for guessing right the party's name) that could cause a big setback to the PTI-JI ruling alliance. The contagion since has spread to Balochistan, as is obvious from the PML-N's reaction. Punjab and Sindh are safe because of obvious reasons.
Some of the KPK legislators, said reports, acting as front men for the candidates discussed deals in the MPAs hostel. Others were more discreet like the person who, Imran told reporters, offered him Rs150 million as donation for the Shaukat Khanum Hospital in exchange for a party ticket. As a matter of fact, it has been accepted practice for the other parties to take money from candidates for assemblies and Senate tickets. If that was not bad enough, almost all parties, except for the PTI, have now awarded tickets in many cases, by way of favours to friends and supporters, to candidates belonging to provinces other than their own. Which goes against the very notion of the provinces, big and small, getting equal representation in the upper house. The entire Senate election has been reduced to deal cutting, through money or connections, in utter disregard for the peoples' representation.
Horse-trading is not new to our political culture. Back in the '90s, in an unsuccessful bid to pass a vote of no-confidence against the Benazir government, the then leader of the opposition, Mian Nawaz Sharif, had managed to purchase the loyalties of several PPP and ANP members, keeping them hidden in the Changa Manga forest rest house to ensure they did not go back on their commitment on the voting day. Legislators from Fata have always been known to sell their support to the highest bidder.
The issue, once again, has exposed our major parties' opportunism. It has been a while since the PTI, affected by the vote buying activity, started voicing its concern. The JI Amir, Sirajul Haq, while expressing his anger and indignation over the goings-on in KPK, said it was an act of great shame for the lawmakers to present themselves as "salable cattle". But the PPP kept quiet. And the Prime Minister paid no attention to the matter until this past Monday - nearly two weeks before the voting day - when the Election Commission had already received nomination papers, and was in the process of scrutinising the candidates. So what made him to suddenly sit up and take notice? His party's precarious position in Balochistan. It turns out that during his last week's visit to Quetta, in an open act of defiance, five of the PML-N legislators did not show up for a party meeting chaired by the PM himself. They are said to be resentful of the way their party distributed Senate election tickets. Notably, in a house of 65, the PML-N's share of seats is 19. Hence every vote is precious.
Alarmed by the situation, on Monday the government decided to introduce a constitutional amendment, under which the present practice of secret balloting is to be replaced with vote by show of hands so as to trump the influence of money and/or to bring rebellious legislators into line with party decisions.
One only wishes the PM had taken the issue of electoral reforms more seriously at an earlier time. As it is, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, has his finger in every pie. He has been too busy to find time for the electoral reform business. Non-seriousness of the government is evident also from the fact that the last meeting of the electoral reform panel's subcommittee, which was to sort out various proposals, has not been held since last November when its last head, science and technology minister Zahid Hamid, resigned due to involvement in an unrelated legal case.
Now that the PM is in favour of reforming the Senate electoral system, the situation is unfavourable. For reasons of its own, the PPP is unenthusiastic about going along with the 'show of hands' proposal. Of course, it wasn't going to say there is nothing wrong about bribing legislators. It has an easy excuse in that the time is too short to make necessary changes. Unsurprisingly, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Syed Khurshid Shah, told reporters on Tuesday it is "impossible" to amend the Constitution when the Senate elections are a few days away. The issue is complicated, indeed. But then where there is a will there is a way. There are instances from the past when the Parliament took hours, not days, to approve equally important legislative proposals.
At present, lawmakers are required to give three names, in a priority order, for each Senate seat up for grabs. In the event of show of hands, that option won't remain. An alternative solution is for the parties to nominate their candidates on the basis of proportional representation principle. That is the best way to counter horse-trading and bring some integrity to the electoral exercise. The PTI is more than eager to see the proposed amendment's enactment. But it is out of the National Assembly. And the PPP is unwilling to lend support. The horse traders, therefore, are poised to triumph.
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