KARACHI: Describing the federal government’s decision to hold Senate elections in February as an illegal move, former chairman of Senate and senior leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party Mian Raza Rabbani on Wednesday said that it was the responsibility of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to decide the date of the polls of the upper house of parliament and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf administration was only trying to influence the constitutional body.

Addressing a press conference at the Committee Room of the Sindh Assembly, he criticised the PTI government for “violating” the defined rules and “ignoring” democratic norms only for its political gains which, he feared, would badly affect the parliamentary governance and democratic system of the country.

“The federal cabinet has made an absolutely illegal decision regarding the Senate elections,” he said.

“It is the job of the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold the Senate polls and make every decision related to this process. How can you [the federal government] interfere and decide things on your own? Article 213 of the Constitution of Pakistan makes it clear that only the Election Commission has the right to announce date and schedule for the elections.”

Similarly, he said Article 224 of the Constitution pertaining to the time of election and by-election defined the timing of the polls.

Flanked by PPP Sindh general secretary and Adviser to the Chief Minister Waqar Mehdi, Mr Rabbani said that the term of the current senators would end on March 11 and before that any polls for the new legislators of the upper house could not be justified.

“It’s so unfortunate that the decisions, which have to be made by the Council of Common Interests, are being taken by the federal cabinet,” he said. “For the interest of any individual or political party, you cannot change the rules or violate the law. The process is already defined and we have to follow that, whether it suits us or not.”

Mr Rabbani’s thoughts came just a day after the federal government decided to hold Senate elections in February and invoke advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court on open voting for the polls. The decisions were taken by the cabinet which met on Tuesday with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Khan said legal reforms regarding the elections were meant only to make the entire process “transparent” and the doors were open for all political parties for talks in this respect.

The elections are to be held for 52 seats of the upper house because as many members of the 104-member Senate will retire on March 11.

About the proposed “show of hands” method instead of secret balloting for the Senate elections, the former Senate chairman said no government has the power to amend the rules in one go without following a defined procedure.

Responding to a question, he admitted that financial influences were made during the Senate elections in the past, however he argued that this problem should be addressed through a legal way.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2020