ISLAMABAD: The events leading to the fall of Zehri-led provincial government in Balochistan have ensured that the restive western province will be the hub of extensive horse-trading to deny the ruling PML-N a significant lead in the upper house in the upcoming Senate elections. But the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will remain helpless to curtail ‘horse-trading’, due to a lack of requisite legislative framework (see report on Balochistan). Under the existing legal framework, Senate elections are held in accordance with proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. Responding to a question regarding the election watchdog’s role in curtailing horse-trading in Senate polls, ECP spokesperson Altaf Khan said that it was not just an administrative matter and it needed bipartisan political resolve to settle the matter. “We will ensure transparent electoral process so that voters can cast their ballots with their freewill and without any pressure or influence,” he said, adding, however, that there were no laws to bound lawmakers to elect candidates of their respective parties only. Khan suggested that if there anybody has substantial evidence of instances where lawmakers are forced or pressured to vote against their freewill, they should approach the ECP with a formal complaint. “The commission will take action upon receipt of such complaints according to the prevailing law,” he said. While former bureaucrats who have served in the ECP suggest that the Parliamentarians should take the lead and amend the constitution to prevent horse trading, election observers also find faults with the ECP itself, saying that the watchdog hasn’t taken a proactive role in preventing horse trading in Senate polls. Former ECP secretary Kanwar Mohammad Dilshad, while talking to Daily Times, suggested that the elections for the upper house should be held by show of hands instead of the secret ballet paper to prevent horse trading. He said that the constitution would have to be amended for the purpose. He stressed that provisions to curtail horse trading should be implemented in time for the next election in 2021 because the existing framework was detrimental to national integration. The ECP has remained unable to tighten ballot rules or adopt new regulations in the last two elections held in 2012 and 2015, said MudassirRizvi, the programme head of Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). “There were complaints of irregularities, horse trading and corruption in those two elections. Yet the new polls will likely be held under that same legal framework,” he observed. He suggested that the ECP should introduce a code of conduct and hold the ballot under an amended framework because the commission has now been authorised for the purpose. Published in Daily Times, February 5th 2018.