Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has said on Wednesday that Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh will easily bag his election seat on March 3. “Dr Aamir Liaquat Hussain is the apple of our eyes, will convince him to vote for Abdul Hafeez Sheikh in the upcoming Senate polls”, Fawad Chaudhry said while speaking to private TV channel.
The minister said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has awarded a majority of Senate election tickets to the old party workers. Answering a query about holding Senate polls via open ballot, Chaudhry said that according to the legal situation, the elections should be held through a show of hand.
Fawad said that he is clueless that why the Pakistan People’s Party is ending the political career of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Earlier this week, the ruling party’s MNA from Karachi, Dr Aamir Liaquat Hussian had announced not to vote for Abdul Hafeez Sheikh in the upcoming Senate polls, citing he is not a member of the party.
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According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, 170 candidates have submitted their nomination papers for contesting the election on Senate vacant seats.
It is to be mentioned here that Senate polls are scheduled to take place on March 3.
PTI to emerge as the winning party?
A total of 52 senators in the house of 104 are set to retire on March 11 on completion of their six-year term. They will also include four of the eight senators from the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). As the seats representing Fata will not be filled due to the merger of the tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in May 2018, the Senate strength will shrink to 100.
Therefore, polling will be held to elect 48 senators — 12 each from KP and Balochistan, 11 each from Punjab and Sindh and two from Islamabad. Polling will be held to elect seven members on general seats, two women and two technocrats in the four provinces. Besides, the election on one minority seat each in KP and Balochistan will also be conducted.
Over 65 per cent of the senators who are set to retire on March 11 after completing their six-year constitutional term belong to the opposition parties.
While the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf senators may double in numbers after the electoral exercise to reach 28 from existing 14, the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz is likely to be the biggest loser in terms of representation in the Senate as 17 of its 29 senators will retire next month and the party would be able to retain just five, taking the total strength to 17.
The Pakistan Peoples Party’s strength in the house will slightly come down from 21 to 19. Among the allies of the ruling party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement will be the only loser, with its party’s strength slipping down from five to three, while another ally, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), will emerge stronger, with the number of its senators growing from 10 to 13.
Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, President of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency, opines that “if the Senate election takes place in March 2021 as scheduled, the PTI is likely to emerge as the largest party in the house, displacing the PML-N from that position”.
It is, however, important to note that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) has announced to resign from the assemblies. PPP, led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, is one of the parties rallying against the government. Syed Murad Shah, Chief Minister Sindh, may advise the dissolution of the assembly shortly ahead of the Senate election in March 2021 which may keep an entire province out of the election.
Mehboob writes that “in case this happens, it will be the first time that a province skips the Senate election cycle”. “Since there is no clear and explicit provision in the Constitution and the Elections Act regarding such a situation, the matter may end up in a court of law for resolution and interpretation of the Constitution,” he continued.
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“This may become necessary also because fresh election of the chair and deputy chair of the Senate has to take place immediately after the March 2021 election and the absence of half the representation of a province may significantly impact the outcome of these elections,” he concluded.