With two provincial assemblies being sworn in, and two more to go into inaugural sessions, along with the National Assembly, the electoral mosaic is coming full circle. The post-ballot scenario, nonetheless, is one of utter confusion and chaos, and has bred discontentment rather than sewing a fabric of unanimity. More to misery is the highhandedness undertaken by several district administrations in Punjab, wherein elected MPAs belonging to the PTI were forcefully prevented from taking oaths, along with an unending circus of abductions and arrests. This has further unnerved the political mosaic, and with an agitation movement in the sleeves on behalf of PTI-backed Independent candidates as well as religious and national parties, the die seems to have been cast for abject instability.
The biggest confrontation is yet to come as the Independent candidates of PTI who merged themselves under the banner of SIC and MWM are being denied their due share in reserved seats. The Election Commission’s gimmicks once again to floor the PTI is in contravention of constitutional dictates, and thickens the plot of a smear campaign. This comes in addition to the woes that the controversy of Form-45 and claims of PTI-backed members’ numerical edge at polls has not yet been addressed as per law. Thus, a lot of litigation at the electoral tribunals as well as petitions filed before the judiciary to tailor-correct the February 8 verdict will keep all on the tenterhooks, and that too at the cost of economic derailing and societal confrontation.
The ruckus and sloganeering witnessed in Punjab and Sindh assemblies is a case in point, and also underscores that the elections have not come to fill the void of good governance. For many it is a déjà vu of 2013 elections where the indecisive nature of more than 35 constituencies pushed the entire political dispensation to the brink. So seems to be the case this time around as PTI will be mulling for broader agitations in weeks to come. This necessitates nothing but a lawful solution by upholding the writ of the Constitution, and deciding on the political chorus with a brave heart.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 25th, 2024.
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