Staff Reporter
Islamabad
The Supreme Court of Pakistan said on Wednesday that the seats in the Senate of any political party should be proportional to their existing seats in the provincial assemblies.
“A political party should get a deserving number of seats in the Senate,” Justice Ijazul Ahsan said while hearing a case related to the presidential reference for open voting in the upper House of the parliament.
Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja and the counsel for the Election Commission appeared in the court during the proceeding.
The judge observed, “if a political party wins more seats than its proportion then such an occurrence could destroy the system.”
The ECP counsel told the top court that the meaning of secret voting is that the votes will remain secret. He added that the votes polled cannot be revealed to anyone ever.
At this, Justice Ijaz said that a vote cannot remain concealed forever. “To keep the votes secret forever is not as per the Constitution, neither it is [conveyed] in the court’s previous decisions.”
He asked the counsel as to what “proportionate representation” actually meant. He noted that the term open voting is used in terms of the National Assembly elections, but the law doesn’t say the same for Senate’s polls. The judge asked how would the electoral authority ensure proportionate representation of political parties in the voting.
“The ECP will be responsible if a party receives lesser number of votes,” Justice Ijaz said, adding that, “it will be ECP’s failure if a party doesn’t win seats as proportionate to their representation in the national provincial assemblies.” “The selling of votes would destroy the concept of proportionate representation [of Senate’s seats],” he maintained.
Justice Ijaz observed that it is in the ECP’s power to ensure that the votes are not sold however it says that it would take action after they are stolen. “How will the process of legislation take place if the parties get lesser seats than their proportion?” The judge added that the money earned from the sale of narcotics and other ill practices is used in buying votes.
Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed asked the ECP what it would do if a party won more seats in Senate than its proportion. “How does the ECP determine that the polls have taken place with the proportionate representation,” he asked. The counsel responded, saying that the authority cannot stop anyone from exercising their right to vote. “Without open voting, the elections would rather be selections.”
