Observer Report Islamabad
The Supreme Court judge, Justice Ijazul Ahsan observed on Friday that there should be proportional representation of every political party in the Senate as he believes that constitutional provisions have provided room for proportional representation in the upper house.
A five-member larger bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed is adjudicating the presidential reference seeking the court’s guidelines for open ballot in the upcoming Senate elections whereas Justice Ijazul Ahsan is one of the members of the bench.
Commencing arguments before the bench in his personal capacity on Friday, Pakistan People’s Party leader Senator Raza Rabbani contended that the federal government is trying to create an impression as the case was about the jurisdiction of Article 184 (3).
Rabbani submitted that the establishment of the Senate aims to give equal representation to the provinces, saying the National Assembly represents the nation whereas the Senate is the representative of federal units and it will be unnatural for having no difference of opinion in both the houses.
He made a point, “It is not necessary for a ruling party to gain majority in a province while the proportion of Senate seats can also be changed after the coalition of opposition.
I will give a detailed stance on the point pertaining to the proportional representation,” During the course of hearing, Justice Ijazul Ahsan observed that proportional representation in Senate have been mentioned in Articles 51 and 59 of the Constitution, saying alliance of political parties will not affect the proportional representation, whereas the coalition should be made in public if any political party is willing to do it.
