Senate vote in focus

Why is it that our politicians only side with principles when it makes some political sense to them?

It’s quite clear, and understandable too, that the PDM has timed its protest march on the federal capital before the Senate elections. But it has also to keep its anti-government agitation as farther away from the chilly Islamabad weather as possible. This is perhaps what the opposition alliance has learnt from the Lahore rally of December 13 where the extreme cold weather played a kind of spoilsport — reflected in lower and quieter than predicted turnout. The government understands the PDM quandary very well. It has thus come up with a preemptive plan that would leave its rivals with no other option but to get rather closer to weather conditions unfit for sustained agitations like sit-ins if they tried to take a shot at the government before the Senate vote.

As part of the plan, the federal cabinet has decided to hold the elections to Senate in February instead of March when they are originally scheduled. The elections are to be held for 52 Senate seats because as many members of the 104-strong upper house are retiring on March 11. The Prime Minster says that all the opposition’s fuss is about the Senate vote. The government’s move has put the opposition in a catch-22 situation though, it has also triggered a constitutional debate in the country. While the government insists that the Constitution provides for polls preponement, the opposition is presenting its own set of constitutional arguments challenging the government’s stance, and says that scheduling elections is purely a prerogative of the election commission.

In another decision related to the Senate vote, the government has decided to invoke advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court on polling by ‘show of hands’ as against a secret ballot that actually serves the constitutional requirement. The PM, however, says that the move is meant to rid the Senate vote of horse-trading, thereby making the entire process transparent. As the PM has taken a principled position, it does not leave much room for criticism. But why is it that our politicians — nearly all of them — only side with principles when it makes some political sense to them? The new questions about the Senate vote, meanwhile, threaten to generate more bad blood between the government and the opposition.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2020.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.