Daily Times

The elections of 48 Senate seats have been concluded. Barring the one, all seats have yielded the expected results. Yousaf Raza Gillani and Hafeez Sheikh vied with each other for the general seat of the Senate form Islamabad. In the tightly fought contest, Yousaf Raza Gillani, the ex-boss of Hafeez Sheikh (Hafeez Sheikh has worked in the Cabinet of Mr. Gillani) flabbergasted everyone by defeating him.

The ruling alliance has 185 seats in the house of 342 while the opposition has only 160 seats. Nonetheless, Hafeez Sheikh got only 164 votes against the winner, Yousaf Raza Gillani who bagged 169 votes. Seven votes were rejected. Shehryar Khan Afridi’s vote is among those whose votes were rejected. Sure enough, those parliamentarians who wasted their votes have no right to ask the people for votes. Rather they should be disqualified for life to contest for any public offices because if they can’t cast their vote, how can they represent people?

Hafeez Sheikh, being the blued eye boy of the global powers, was considered favorite but hats off to PPP which swept the political board by beating a heavy weight and outmaneuvered the government. Although PDM has played an important role in the victory of Mr. Gillani but we should not forget that the real factor behind this victory is the effort and reconciliatory policy of Asif Zardari.

Due to secret ballot, the government couldn’t know the twelve or thirteen members who let them down. According to reliable sources, the ruling members who voted for Mr. Gillani and those who wasted their votes belong to Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur, Mandi Bahauddin, Toba Tek Singh and Faisalabad districts. The husband of an MNA assured that she wouldn’t vote if they were paid money in Dubai. Inner sources also say that some of them voted Gillani for the promise of PML N ticket in the next elections.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, in his speech, has taken the Election Commission of Pakistan to task that secret balloting was conducted due to its stance. If the ECP had not opposed open balloting in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the results would have been different.

The PTI members voting Yousaf Raza Gillani may have two reasons: Either PPP bought their favour or they were fed up with the PTI and the policies of federal government, and the Senate elections gave them the opportunity to give an undercut. Anyhow, opposition says that it got ‘other’ votes due to voice of conscience and it is victory of democracy. Two years ago, the same words were uttered by the government representatives when no-confidence resolution against Sadiq Sanjrani, the Chairman of the Senate, was foiled. It happened because opposition members voted Mr. Sanjrani in secret balloting. Then opposition held some ‘clandestine hand’ responsible for the turnaround, alleging the establishment of coercing opposition members to vote Mr. Sanjrani.

Now, as opposition candidate Yousaf Raza Gillani got votes from government benches, one needs to ask who has compelled them to vote him. Should establishment also be held responsible for this? PDM claims that the establishment is backing up the government. Politicians, whether they are on the treasury benches or in the opposition, always blame the establishment for their failures. If their political gambit is failing, establishment is demonized. Otherwise if they are succeeding, establishment suddenly becomes neutral. The election commission also starts working properly and courts are dispensing justice fairly.

In short, it is phony tactics of politicians to blame others. Establishment itself remains impartial, serving the country without any desire for reward. Today Imran Khan is displeased with the election commission, yet it was the same election commission being criticized by opposition not long ago. People will start believing in Pakistan’s political institutions when politicians make themselves reliable. Majority’s candidate loosing and minority’s winning has become a tradition in Pakistani politics. People are beginning to smell the rat. Release of videos showing trade of votes for money has further tarnished politics.

There is now an interesting situation in Senate where government has again made Sadiq Sanjrani their candidate for Chairman Senate while Bilawal Bhutto has declared Yousaf Raza Gillaini to be their candidate. PDM has not yet made an announcement but probably Mr. Gillani would be their candidate too. Government will try to make Sadiq Sanjrani the chairman despite being again in minority. However, it seems that PTI’s inner circles are displeased at his candidacy as some of core people around Imran Khan do not consider him their own candidate. They prefer a PTI leader to hold this position.

Still, Sadiq Sanjrani may become the Chairman Senate miraculously but it appears improbable as per current situation. But if Mr. Gillani can win, anything is possible in Pakistani politics. Just wait and see. Chickens are coming home to roost.