Imagine a political scenario in which Imran Khan comes to power with a thumping majority in the National Assembly, maybe two-thirds if we stretch our imagination a bit further.
But what would he do about the Upper House, or Senate in our case, where he would have no representation at all despite achieving legislative majorities in national and provincial assemblies whenever the new elections are held?
Can he run the country with majority in the National Assembly and nobody to represent him in the Senate? This is a billion dollar question being asked in the political discussions these days, both in the federal and provincial capitals where the prospects of Imran Khan is being weighed in any future political dispensation after the next parliamentary elections in Pakistan. Senate elections are due to be held in the country in March, when half of its members will be retiring. In the existing assemblies, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has no members from the electoral college. The chances of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) triumphing in the March elections are quite bright. Other political parties are eying a maximisation of their presence in Senate, like the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), PML-Quaid and Awami National Party (ANP).
These parties have already put in place their respective strategies, even finalised their candidates. But the PTI, it seems, has no strategy for the Senate elections. The opposition is extremely worried if the coalition led by the PPP returns to Senate with an even greater representation.
But similar concern is never voiced by the PTI leadership, nor did we hear a word from them about the Senate elections. We are not sure if the PTI leadership knows the political implications of being left unrepresented in the Senate before the next elections.
The question is, how is the PTI going to rule if it manages to gain a strong foothold in the Lower House, especially when it is entering practical politics with a ‘revolutionary’ mindset?
But bringing organic changes in the country would be asking too much from the PTI when it would be difficult for Imran Khan to pass a budget on his own through the Senate in the emerging political equation. Even for the passage of monetary bills, his party would have to rely on the support of other parties present in the Senate. The 18th Amendment has reinforced the position of the Senate. The parliamentary bodies are playing a useful role now and talk of supremacy of parliament is a new mantra among parliamentarians.
Interestingly, the PTI would take sometime to correct this equation in its favour. But before that it would have to rely on other parties to get its agenda through the Senate.
As such the ground realities belie the claims of big change in the country even if Imran puts up a successful show in the next elections. It will be interesting to see how Imran and his backers address this and other quandaries dictated by the ground realities.
Will Imran’s tsunami fall short of Senate?
