he 1973 constitution adopted a bicameral legislature. This gave birth to the Senate of Pakistan as a house of the federation. As Upper House of the parliament, it provided equality of representation to the federating units. Most of the federal states in the world have bicameral legislatures. Even some unitary states like the United Kingdom and Japan have adopted bicameralism.

Political scientists see second chambers as guardian and custodian of the rights of the federating units/ provinces and as a legislative check on hasty, ill-conceived or impulsive legislation. It can provide sufficient pause for reflection and sober reconsideration after the pacification of populist trends. It can also effectively check populist legislation around electoral cycles. Here, we make a modest effort to trace the origin and history of the Upper House in Pakistan.

In British India, a bicameral legislative arrangement was first introduced through the 1919 Act. Along with 144 members of the Central Legislative Assembly, a Council of States was created with 60 members, out of which 34 were elected. In the legislative sphere, both houses enjoyed equal powers. Some additional powers were assigned to the lower house. The 1935 Act further enlarged the powers and numerical strength of both houses. The Central Legislative Assembly consisted of 375 members with a five year-term. The Act proposed an upper house of a maximum of 260 members, the Council of States recommended as a permanent house with its one third members retiring every three years. That federal legislative structure never came into existence due to the prevailing political situation. The Act also proposed adoption of bicameral legislatures at the provincial tier. Six out of 11 provinces adopted that arrangement with strength of membership varying from 22 to 60.

The idea of bicameral legislature was not maintained in the Cabinet Mission Proposals and in the Independence of India Act, 1947. According to the Act, the newly created Constituent Assembly of Pakistan was assigned the task of framing the constitution. It also served as the federal legislature. The CAP appointed a Basic Principles Committee after the adoption of the Objectives Resolution in 1949. The committee submitted its second draft report in December 1952 and proposed a bicameral legislature for the new state. The proposed House of Units comprised 120 members, out of which 60 were elected from East Pakistan based on proportional representation by means of single transferable vote of provincial legislature. The remaining 60 seats were distributed among the administrative units of West Pakistan with the same electoral mechanism. The 400 members House of People was going to be directly elected based on universal adult franchise. The draft constitution of 1954 also proposed the bicameral structure by adopting the Bogra Formula of October 1953. The formula introduced the principle of parity of representation between East and West Pakistan. It proposed an indirectly elected Senate comprising 50 members equally distributed among the 5 units plus two women representatives each from both wings. The lower house comprised 300 general seats and 14 reserved for women. Both houses enjoyed equal legislative and financial powers. Disputes would be resolved through a joint seating via majority votes.

The subsequent formation of One Unit effectively derailed that arrangement. The 1956 constitution adopted unicameral legislative structure with parity of representation between East and West Pakistan. These moves significantly undermined the federation and resulted in deep rooted grievances among the provinces. The imposition of Gen Ayub’s martial law further complicated the situation. He appointed a Constitutional Commission under Justice Shahabuddin that recommended a bicameral legislature with a 48-member upper house. Among them, 40 members would be elected from both wings based on parity – 20 each, while eight members would be nominated by the president from amongst meritorious personalities. The lower house comprised 200 members elected by popular vote. The proposed Senate enjoyed legislative powers; it could propose amendments in money bill to the lower house with a non-binding effect. The Senate would also enjoy the power to try president, governors, ministers, judges and the other Executive offices. It also enjoyed the power to confirm key appointments made by the president.

Gen Ayub rejected the proposed constitutional scheme and adopted a presidential form of government with extraordinary concentration of powers in the office of the president. A powerless unicameral legislative house was adopted. The National Assembly comprised 150 indirectly elected members from the electoral college of 80,000 Basic Democrats on the parity principle. These moves had disastrous consequences for the harmonious working of the state and aggravated the sense of political marginalisation among the federating units. The federal principle and provincial autonomy were largely undermined in legislative and executive spheres and Pakistan predominantly operated under unitary state patterns. That constitutional arrangement was abrogated with the resignation of Ayub Khan.

Gen Yahya’s regime introduced the Legal Framework Order of 1970, which abolished One-Unit as well as the parity principle. The military regime announced the first general elections to National and Provincial Assemblies based on universal adult franchise. A unicameral house of National Assembly comprising 300 general members and 13 women reserved seats was introduced. The constituencies were allocated among the federating units based on their respective demographic strengths. East Pakistan had a share of 162+7 seats and West Pakistan provinces had 138+6 members.

After the disintegration of the state in 1971, Pakistan started its new political journey under the leadership of ZA Bhutto. Democratic forces evolved a political consensus on the adoption of the new federal parliamentary constitution. They also proposed bicameral legislature. A national consensus developed among political leaders after intensive deliberations. They finally signed a constitutional accord in October 1972. Along with many other issues, it adopted the bicameral legislature. The Senate of Pakistan was proposed as a house of the federation. The Senate had equal representation from the provinces, it comprised 45 members initially with 10 each indirectly elected from the four provincial assemblies. Three seats were reserved for FATA members and 2 seats for the federal capital. The elections of the first Senate were held from July 6 to July 10, 1973 for a four-year term.

The Senate as a custodian of constitution and guardian of democracy was proposed as a permanent house. The first meeting of the Senate was held in the National Assembly Hall on August 6, 1973. Senators elected Khan Habibullah as the first chairman of the Senate and Tahir Muhammad Khan as the deputy chairman. The Senate membership was expanded after the 1977 general elections. Eighteen new members were added, 4 from each province and 2 additional members from the FATA. This raised its total strength to 63.

The imposition of martial law not only derailed the democratic process, but the Senate of Pakistan was also abolished despite constitutional protections as a permanent house. Gen Zia restored the Senate after the 1985 elections. However, it again faced derailment after Gen Musharraf’s martial law of 1999. The Senate was restored after 2002 elections with an enlarged membership.

In a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual federal state of Pakistan, the Upper House serves to offer equal representation and a common platform to the diverse identities of its citizenry. It also helps foster a sense of national unity, supremacy of the constitution and democracy in Pakistan.

The writer is an assistant professor in the Department of Pakistan Studies at Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad. His major area of interest is electoral politics of Pakistan. He can be reached at sajidkhanhistorian@gmail.com, and on X: @sajidkhanqau