PPP yet to decide on NA election of Zardari, Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Asif Ali Zardari and his son, Bilawal, will take a definite decision about contesting by-elections to two National Assembly seats from Sindh as the former president flies back home early next week.

“As Zardari will come back in three/four days as he has got his medical tests conducted in the United States, the party will take a decision about this issue,” PPP spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar told The News when contacted.

He said it would be decided whether the father or son would fight the by-poll first or both would contest simultaneously. The decision will be based on our calculations, weighing in all options.”

However, it appears as if the plan may be shelved altogether or will be fundamentally altered or delayed. After the big announcement by Zardari at the death anniversary congregation of Benazir Bhutto in Garhi Khuda Bux on December 27, there has hardly been any movement forward that shows that the PPP is serious in this declaration.

Zardari’s sister, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, elected to the National Assembly from NA-204 Nawabshah, and Ayaz Soomro, returned from NA-213 Larkana, had handed over their resignations to the party leadership. However, even the basic requirement – their resignation from their seats - has not so far been met. This amply demonstrates the vacillation prevailing in the top party hierarchy.

Farhatullah Babar said the resignations would be sent to the National Assembly speaker only after a conclusive decision would be taken about contesting the by-elections.

Resignations of Dr Azra and Soomro will  become valid only after they would be handed over to the speaker for onward submission to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for formal acceptance and declaring the seats vacant. Under the Constitution, the ECP is bound to hold by-polls to such seats within sixty days.

The handing over of resignations by lawmakers to their party chiefs is inconsequential. Normally, this is done to put pressure on the government of the day, which is not the case in the presence instance. Those doing so continue to be legislators unless such papers are given to the speaker.

However, a legislator can’t resign his seat when the assembly has just four months left to live. Clause 4 of Article 224 of the Constitution says when, except by dissolution of the National Assembly or a provincial assembly, a general seat has become vacant not later than 120 days before its term is due to expire, an election to fill the seat shall be held within sixty days from the occurrence of the vacancy. The term of the present Lower House will end in May next year.

After Zardari’s announcement to be in the National Assembly, certain PPP leaders disapproved the idea and asserted that he should remain away from the party’s affairs which should be left to Bilawal to manage. Aitzaz Ahsan was one of them, who publicly stated that the plan was not discussed in the party and that he was not in favour of Zardari’s contesting any by-election.

While the plan had raised eyebrows in certain PPP circles, it had also been received with a pinch of salt by several other quarters. It was argued that it was not appropriate for Zardari to contest the by-election when he had been president of Pakistan. It was also stated that he should avoid the path that Farooq Leghari had stepped on.

Even Zardari and Bilawal have not shown much seriousness or keen interest in vying for the seats of the federal legislature as they have not publicly discussed it after the great announcement. Zardari has not been able to spend much time in Pakistan, and left the country after living here just for a few weeks. Only four days before Benazir Bhutto’s death anniversary, he had come back to Pakistan after an 18-month self-imposed exile.

It is generally believed that even the presence of Zardari and Bilawal in the National Assembly will hardly serve any purpose to push the PPP out of its dire straits and revive its lost glory that it enjoyed for decades.

However, it is not a big problem for Zardari and Bilawal to win the two seats after a work hard particularly in the Larkana constituency where the Bhuttos have never lost. The PPP assisted by the Sindh government is required to put in extra effort to keep the Larkana seat in view of the result of the electoral contest in this constituency in 2013 when the margin of victory of its cardholder was not very phenomenal.

This is the area where Bhuttos including Benazir Bhutto and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had consecutively carried the day owing to their unquestionable hold. In 2013, a non-Bhutto, Ayaz Soomro, was fielded who could bag just 50,128 votes. The performance of his rivals was no mean by any standards. However, Dr Azra had secured by a whopping tally, 113,199 votes, leaving all of her challengers far behind.