ISLAMABAD: Even before discussing the matter in the party’s Central Executive Com­mittee and four days before a meeting of the heads of the 10-party opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Move­m­e­nt, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) vice president Sherry Rehman declared on Saturday that her party would “reject” the government-proposed constitution amendment bill for open balloting in Senate elections when it would be put to vote in the upper house, where the opposition has a majority.

In a statement, Ms Rehman questioned the government’s move to bring the constitution amendment bill in the parliament at a time when the Sup­reme Court is hearing a presidential reference on the issue.

“The bill is being moved with a mala fide intention and in haste,” said Ms Rehman, who is also the parliamentary leader of the PPP in the Senate.

“Why is the government bringing the bill (before the parliament) even before a decision by the Supreme Court?” she asked.

Says Imran doesn’t trust his party’s lawmakers

The statement of the PPP senator came two days after the National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice, headed by Riaz Fatyana of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, approved the constitution amendment bill for open balloting in the Senate elections, scheduled in March.

The committee in its meeting, which lasted less than half an hour, considered the Constitution (Twenty Sixth Amendment) Bill 2020 and recommended with majority that the bill be passed by the National Assembly.

The opposition members of the committee had opposed the sudden voting and protested over what they termed “bulldozing of the bill”.

Later, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan had said at a press conference that three amendments to the constitution would be presented in the parliament next week ahead of the coming Senate elections.

Mr Awan said that through the bill, a roadmap had been given to the political parties in the parliament to stop horse trading and buying of votes in elections.

He said that Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto had signed the Charter of Democracy in May 2006 and one of its points was that indirect elections should be open and identifiable votes should be cast in them.

He was of the view that reforms were a national agenda and nobody would want to get senators elected through use of money or corruption.

Mr Awan, who had previously served as law minister in the PPP government under the then president Asif Zardari, urged the opposition parties to support the government in undertaking electoral reforms in the parliament.

On the other hand, Ms Rehman said electoral reforms could not be carried out through just an amendment and only days before the Senate elections.

“Presenting such a bill only days before the Senate elections shows that the government is in a panic,” she said, adding that Prime Minister Imran Khan did not have confidence in his party’s lawmakers.

Ms Rehman, who is among those senators who are retiring on March 11 after completing their six-year term, said that on one hand, the prime minister was accusing the opposition of stealing the Senate elections and, on the other, he had himself “fixed a price of the members of the provincial assemblies by announcing Rs500 million development funds for each of them”.

Terming the prime minister’s announcement regarding the development funds for the MPs “political bribe”, she alleged that by doing so, the prime minister had himself made an attempt to steal the Senate elections.

Ms Rehman said that the coming Senate elections would be held in accordance with the law and the constitution and not on the wishes of Imran Khan.

According to the proposed amendment to Article 59(2) of the Constitution, an open vote will be cast instead of the single transferable vote in the Senate election.

Through another amendment to Article 63(1)(c), dual nationals will be able to contest elections of the parliament and provincial assemblies in future.

In case a dual national wins an election he will have to give a clear proof before taking oath as the legislator that he has renounced his foreign citizenship. If he will lose the elections, the dual national will not need to renounce his foreign citizenship.

Expressing apprehensions and casting doubts on the federal government’s decision to move a constitution amendment bill for holding Senate polls through open vote, both the PML-N and the PPP have termed it a “delayed move”.

Before the PPP, the PML-N had hinted that it might oppose the bill when it would be put for a vote in the National Assembly and the Senate.

“The constitution amendments are not piecemeal. If you think there are faults in the election system, then you need to bring a whole package,” PML-N senior vice-president Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had said while commenting on the recent decision of the federal cabinet to table the bill in the parliament to amend the constitution for holding Senate polls through open vote.

“Such things are not done in haste,” the PML-N leader said, suggesting that if the government was sincere about electoral reforms, then it should bring it in the form of a package and the opposition would also come up with suggestions. He said such matters were also negotiated among political parties and recalled that the PML-N government during its previous tenure had constituted a parliamentary committee to discuss electoral reforms and the committee had even accommodated those parties which had only one member in the parliament.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2021