President Dr Arif Alvi on Saturday signed off the Election Amendment Ordinance 2021 under which upcoming Senate elections can be held through open balloting.
The ordinance will be effective with immediate effect and the enforcement of the ordinance will be subject to the outcome of a presidential reference wherein the federal government has sought opinion from the Supreme Court whether the Senate elections could be held through open ballot without any constitutional amendment.
The amendment has been introduced in section 33, 86 and 122 of the Election Act 2017.
The ordinance shared by Information Minister Shibli Faraz on Twitter, stated that: “Senate and National Assembly are not in session and the president is satisfied that circumstances exist which render the ordinance necessary to take immediate action.”
The document titled as Election [Amendments] Ordinance, 2021 further added that: "Provided that in case the Supreme Court of Pakistan gives an opinion in Reference No 1 of 2021 filed under Article 186 of the Constitution that elections for the members of Senate do not fall within the purview of Article 226 of the Constitution, the poll for elections for members of the Senate to be held in March, 2021 and thereafter shall be conducted by the Commission through open and identifiable ballot.
"Provided further that after the elections for members of Senate, if the head of the political party requests the Commission to show the ballot cast by any voting member of his party, the Commission shall show the same to the head of the political party or his nominee."
The federal government has also sought the Supreme Court’s opinion on whether the Senate elections could be held through open ballot by amending the Election Act 2017 that requires simple legislation.
The presidential reference is being heard in the Supreme Court pending a decision.
A five-judge larger bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed has been hearing the case. Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan is still arguing the matter and counter arguments are still awaited.
Senate polls
The government on Thursday tabled the Constitution Amendment Bill in the National Assembly to hold Senate polls through the open vote, but the opposition rejected the bill, created pandemonium and the bill could not be approved by the house. The rumpus forced the deputy speaker to prorogue the NA session.
After an abortive attempt to get the bill approved from the National Assembly, the government decided to implement its decision by introducing the presidential ordinance.
A source in the federal cabinet had told Dawn that a summary for introducing the presidential ordinance was approved by the cabinet members through circulation on Friday.
In November last year, Prime Minister Imran Khan had vowed to hold elections for the upper house of parliament through "show of hands", and not by secret ballot, to ensure transparency and eliminate "vote trading".
At present, the opposition is in majority in the Senate and, therefore, many times legislation passed by the National Assembly was bulldozed by in the upper house in the recent past.
The forthcoming elections are, therefore, crucial for the government to secure a majority in the house where polls are held every three years when the term of half of the senators expires.
Read: PTI to emerge as largest party in a hung Senate
As many as 52 senators are set to retire — 50 per cent of the 104-member house — on March 11 after completing their six-year tenure. However, this time there will be no polling for the four seats of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) after its merger with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
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 this, the election on one minority seat each in KP and Balochistan will also be conducted.
When the MPAs will elect senators from respective provinces, members of the National Assembly will be voting to elect a senator on general seat and the other on a woman seat from Islamabad.
The government has already moved a presidential reference in the Supreme Court seeking an open vote for the Senate. However, the Supreme Court is yet to take a decision on the reference, whereas opposition parties have already announced that they will not support such a move from the government at a time when the elections are just a month away.
'Govt is worried'
Earlier today, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that the government's decision to promulgate an ordinance for holding Senate polls through open vote was a "political indication that it is worried".
He had questioned the government's move, stating that the matter was sub judice. "What is the point behind taking this step? Are you trying to put pressure on the apex court? Or are they feeling [pressure] from the [Pakistan Democratic Movement] and are trying to influence the country's institutions?"
The PPP chairman maintained that as far as passing legislation and making constitutional amendments is concerned, it is the parliament's job.
He stated that the government's current way to going about the whole situation was "undemocratic" and claimed that its intentions were to "rig the Senate elections once again in favour of a selected political party".
"The PDM in its meeting a couple of days ago discussed this issue and we believe that open ballot reforms can only be part of a large comprehensive electoral reforms package" that can only be passed by parliament, he said.
