End of horse trading in Senate elections

The government has decided to pass legislation in the Senate to end vote buying and selling. Adviser on Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Babar Awan said that approval would be sought from the federal cabinet to end the alleged buying and selling of votes in the Senate election.

The government basically runs the National Assembly but the Senate oversees the affairs of the government and its main function is to look after the work of the government, to keep an eye on other institutions, and also to try to rectify whatever shortcomings it sees.

The ruling PTI announced holding Senate elections a few months ago through a show of hands or open ballot, then filed a presidential reference to seek the opinion of the Supreme Court in this regard. The prime minister and his team faced strong criticism from the opposition for issuing a presidential ordinance subject to the decision of the Supreme Court.

According to Article 226 of the Constitution, all elections, except for the head of the federation and the province, ie the prime minister and the chief minister, shall be held by secret ballot, while PM Imran Khan and the chief minister shall be elected by show of hands, open ballot or by dividing the House.

Allegations of rigging and horse-trading are common in Pakistan’s upper house elections, while allegations of rigging were also raised in the run-up to the 2018 Senate elections. Similarly, the recent Senate election between Yousuf Raza Gilani and Hafeez Sheikh also saw dramatic results.

PM Imran Khan is right to say that if a senator elected in the upper house of the country buys votes and the members of the assembly vote with money, then the people can understand in which direction the country will go. He had campaigned for voting in the Senate by open ballot, but this did not happen.

PM Imran Khan has been trying to take steps for transparent elections in the country since the formation of his government but no party is serious about stopping the rigging. It needs to be understood that transparent elections in the country will benefit every political party and the back door to power will be closed. In this way, the chain of accusations like horse-trading will finally end.