ISLAMABAD - Pakistan People’s Party Vice President Senator Sherry Rehman yesterday said that early Senate polls were unacceptable and unconstitutional. Commenting on the government’s decision to hold polls for the 51 seats of the Senate, a month before the schedule, the Parliamentary Leader of the PPP in the Senate said this was only being done to disrupt the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s anti-government campaign. She said the federal government wanted to make up for unhappy government lawmakers as the ruling Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf was not sure of their votes. “But what the federal government does not realise is that this is an illegal and unconstitutional act.

 The term of the current senators will end on March 11, 2021. So, holding elections before that is wrong on many counts and can potentially mire the country in a constitutional crisis,” she added.

The PPP leader said the Senate polls cannot be held before senators’ term expires. “Who is the government to change the dates when the authority lies with the Election Commission of Pakistan to formulate the schedule of the Senate’s elections? Under Article 213 of the Constitution, only the ECP has the right to announce a date for elections. What is the government’s urgency that a forty-year-old schedule is being changed?” she asked. 

“It is obvious that they are extremely rattled by the opposition and by the prospect of losing their own disgruntled members,” she added.

The issue of transparency was addressed in an early report, she said, but the government totally ignored it, so that cannot be the issue. “

The Senator said Article 226 of the Constitution explicitly provided for all elections other than those of the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers to be held, by saying they “shall’ be held by secret ballot and “there should be no confusion after this”.

“The single divisible vote and secret ballot cannot be changed without recourse to a full amendment in the Constitution. Article59 (2) states that elections to the Senate shall be held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. This is a formula that was carefully made to protect the system from the unbridled dominance of the majority.  In any case, an amendment in the law can only be done through the parliament as under Article 186, the Supreme Court can only give its opinion, and we hope the courts will support parliamentary supremacy over executive fiat,” the PPP leader said.

The senator said it would be far more productive if the government spent its time and resources tackling issues which the public is facing. We are going through unprecedented times and people are tired of facing one crisis after the other. 

“Food inflation and joblessness is increasing, there’s gas shortage and the recent findings of the inquiry commission on the petroleum shortage makes it pretty obvious that the government is struggling to run the country,” the PPP Vice President said.

The PPP Parliamentary Leader in the Senate said the Constitution of Pakistan cannot be changed on the whims of this government and it can certainly not be bypassed. 

“The ECP rules cannot override the constitution, which is the back door the government is seeking because they are clearly rattled by the opposition. Only the parliament can make laws and despite this government’s efforts to make it redundant, we will not let them bulldoze the rights of our parliament,” she maintained.