Daily Times

Now it’s almost clear that pulling off the most dramatic upset on the general seat of federal capital by the alliance of opposition parties- the PDM- has not happened without a big game that was played behind the scene. Regardless of short of at least nineteen to twenty votes, as claimed by Mr Asif Ali Zardari, the very confident faces of the opposition leaders and their jubilation well before the announcement of election results unambiguously smacks of a foul play.

The fact of matter remains that what the people saw in the leaked video of Ali Haider Gilani, the son of former Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani just a day before the polling for the Senate election was only a tip of the iceberg. The bigger game was played at the top leadership level of the PML(N) and the PPP. And now many political pundits are of the firm view that if those videos, audio tapes and WhatsApp chats were not leaked than the magic number of lead for Mr Gillani for Senate general seat from National Assembly would have been 20 instead of five.

The result of general seat from the federal capital has not only made Prime Minister upset but angry as well. This also prompted going for Vote of Confidence for Leader of the House in National Assembly. What could be more disturbing for the PTI stalwarts is the level of “Confidence” shown by combined Opposition led Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) boycotting the session called for the Prime Minister to seek Vote of Confidence. This also shows that PDM believe hat this is nothing but a drama and the time for vote of Confidence will be when it decides, as claimed by the young Zardari.

So for now, it appears, confidence or no confidence is secondary for the opposition and now winning the Chairman Senate seat is important. Though the PPP leadership has announced that Yousaf Raza Gilani is the candidate for the coveted seat, but the final announcement from the PDM forum is still awaited.

Looking at the number game PDM seems to be comfortable in bagging the chairmanship of Upper House.

What comes next? As the political pundits say that PDM would make Imran Khan run and exhaust his breath by putting up another “Upset” in Punjab by pushing a vote of no confidence against Mr Usman Buzdar. Probably a tester before coming after Mr Khan in the Centre.

Now the reports have started pouring in that Opposition Leader in the National Assembly and President of PML (N) Shehbaz Sharif and Co-Chairperson of PPP Asif Ali Zardari held a meeting at the Minister’s enclave for about two and a half hours a night before the Senate elections. The two leaders discussed the strategy to clinch the general seat of the federal capital to trigger panic in the ranks of ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI). The aim was to further pile up pressure on the government.

The say around is that Zardari and Shehbaz discussed that a hefty amount was paid to buy the loyalties of the MNAs belonging to the PTI. And an amount ranging between Rs 50 million and Rs 80 million was paid to forty MPs and they were asked either to vote in favour of Gilani or waste their ballot and future commitments were also sought. Some were assured that if they are willing to contest elections after defecting from PTI they will be given party tickets from the PDM parties.

Looking at the scenario the political pundits say this was the reason that the confidence was beaming from the faces of the opposition parties on the day of polling in the federal capital. It was because of this foul play that they were more than one hundred percent confident to secure the seat.

The number of votes rejected and the PTI lawmakers who ditched the ruling party and voted for Gilani paved the way for an unprecedented political defeat for a sitting government in the country’s parliamentary history. The victory on the general seat has not only shifted the political gravity towards the opposition but also forced Prime Minister Imran Khan to take a vote of confidence, the National Assembly session for which has been summoned today.