Two questions emerged as the KP Assembly elected the Senators it could not in the general election last year. First, whether the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf would elect the Senators its strength gave it, or whether the party infighting would cause any kind of upset? Second, would the ruling coalition be able to obtain a two-thirds majority in the Senate? The answer to the second question depended on the first. The sort of unprecedented infighting that preceded the Senate poll occurred because the a hardcore PTI refusal to compromise afflicted some of the party, which rejected the compromise achieved by Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, whereby all parties accepted the inexorable logic of the numbers, and withdrew extra candidates, so that the election would be unopposed. A number of PTI leaders, disappointed that their favourites had been excluded, insisted on voting going ahead. This it did, but with the previously predicted results. It was hardly a resounding victory, but the PTI could still claim it had won the seats it should have.
The decision on reserved seats had meant that the PTI could get any, even though it virtually swept KP. It had fought a long battle to avert the members on women’s and minorities’ reserved seats, ever since last year’s general election, but in the end the Supreme Court not only ruled against it, but had to intervene to ensure that the MPAs-elect took their oath by getting the Governor to take the oath, which he did on Sunday, so that voting could take place on Monday. As there were no surprises, and the PML(N) and PPP obtained only one Senator each, the party position in the Senate changed only marginally, with the ruling coalition remaining shy of the two-thirds majority need to amend the Constitution. The reserved seats decision has allowed the coalition to obtain the requisite number of seats in the National Assembly, but in the Senate it seems that the coalition is still dependent on the JUI(F), which now has seven Senate seats.
The KP election was in the nature of a by-election, with members elected until March 2030. The present Senate party position is to remain the same until March 2027. That also means that unless they are dissolved, the current Assemblies will elect the new Senators. The PTI must also get its house in order, and realize that Mr Gandapur, apart from convenience, was also working against the horse-trading the PTI dislikes so much.
