Following the pandemonium in the National Assembly after the government tabled the 26th Constitutional Amendment bill seeking open balloting in Senate elections, the federal cabinet approved yesterday, without practically any debate on the matter, the promulgation of a presidential ordinance that would instead amend the Election Act 2017, allowing polls to be conducted through open vote. What transpired in the Lower House was to be expected considering the ever-increasing and bitter animosity between the government and the opposition. In terms of numbers, the PTI would never have been able to secure the two-thirds majority to amend the Constitution in any case. This way it can at least say that it tried the more conventional route but the opposition did not play ball. Prime Minister Imran Khan says his motivation to go for open balloting is to eliminate horse-trading, but in reality he does not trust his ministers to vote the way he wants them to and secure senate seats for his many unelected advisors, including Zulfi Bukhari, Shahzad Akbar and Hafeez Sheikh. The government seems to be in an unholy haste to ensure Senate polls are done through an open ballot as on one hand it has asked for the Supreme Court’s guidance on the matter and on the other, without any verdict on the matter so far, will be passing a Presidential Ordinance to achieve its goal.
It is no secret that huge sums of money are spent on Senate Elections to get desired results. With constitutionally mandated secret balloting, ministers will break ranks with their respective parties if the price is right, and vote for opposing candidates without the fear of being exposed. Open balloting would eliminate the possibility of such corruption. It would have been better if the government had opted to rationally debate this problem in parliamentary committees that include opposition members to formulate a strategy that would reform the process of voting in Senate polls with consensus. Barring any aggressive judicial intervention in the matter, it is very likely that this Senate Election will be carried out through open ballot. It is disappointing that it wasn’t handled in a more systematic and inclusive way rather than the autocratic manner in which the government has addressed its incapability to keep party members loyal.
