n recent years, results of the Senate elections have highlighted a trend: the Upper House of the country’s parliament is a passage to power for those who enjoy the patronage of powerful quarters, eventually becoming its effective mouthpieces.

The Senate of Pakistan has become a forum any well-to-do person, who has strong connections with the establishment, can reach without much hard work. They can defeat representatives of popular parties despite their majorities in the assemblies. Over the last decade and a half the Senate elections have been replete with examples of establishment-backed candidates with little or no political support becoming senators and defeating some of the political heavyweights. This time, too, several independents or candidates from small political groups are contesting the elections. Many of them will easily win with the support of bigger political parties. A former caretaker prime minister, who enjoys support of the PML-N and the establishment, will easily grab a seat from Balochistan even though he belongs to the Balochistan Awami Party, a small group in the Balochistan Assembly.

Punjab’s former caretaker chief minister Mohsin Naqvi, now the Interior Minister and Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, has already been elected unopposed. Though he had submitted his papers as an independent candidate, the PML-N and the PPP members in the Punjab Assembly had proposed and seconded his name. The PML-Q and Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party too had announced their support to him. He is said to have close ties with President Asif Zardari, Chief of Army Staff Gen Syed Asim Munir and the Sharifs.

Likewise, a PTI dissident, Faisal Vawda has submitted his nomination papers from Sindh as an independent candidate. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement has announced its support for him, sacrificing its stalwart Rauf Siddqui. Vawda is also believed to enjoy strong support of the establishment.

Polling for 48 Senate seats is scheduled for April 2 (Tuesday) after 52 senators retired following the completion of their six-year term. There will be no election for the four senators from the FATA as the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas have been merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Punjab and Sindh Assemblies were supposed to elect 12 senators each – seven general, two women, two technocrats and one non-Muslim. However, the Punjab has already elected its seven senators against general seats, unopposed.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan assemblies will elect members against seven general seats besides two seats reserved for women and two for technocrats. The National Assembly will elect a senator against a general seat and one technocrat.

Sources from various political parties say that most senators, nominally representing major political parties, are influenced by powerful quarters and frequently defy party line.

The biggest evidence of this was the election of former Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, who was elected as an independent on March 12, 2018. Surprisingly, he was then elected as the Senate’s chairman the same day, defeating former chairman, PML-N’s Raja Zafarul Haq by securing 57 out of 103 votes. Zafarul Haq, the PML-N candidate, bagged 46 votes. The PTI, the PPP, the MQM and independents from Balochistan and the FATA supported him.

In August 2019, the joint opposition in the Senate, in a bid to utilise its numerical strength, filed a no-confidence motion against Sadiq Sanjrani. In a counter move, treasury members submitted a no-confidence motion against deputy chairman Mandviwalla, who belonged to the PPP.

The last one-and-a-half-decade history of the Senate’s elections is replete with examples where establishment-backed candidates with minor or no political support became senators while defeating political heavyweights. 

The resolution submitted by the opposition demanded the removal of the Senate chairman under Rule 12 (Removal of Chairman or Deputy Chairman) of the Rules of Procedure in Conduct of Business in the Senate. Senator Javed Abbasi of the PML-N and Senator Sherry Rehman of the PPP drafted the motion before submitting it. The opposition then named late Mir Hasil Bizenjo as their joint candidate for Senate chairman.

The motion against Sanjrani looked like a settled matter as the combined opposition had the support of 67 members in a house of 103. The government and its allies only had 36 members and were at a clear disadvantage.

Bizenjo was justifiably confident. Addressing reporters a day before the crucial vote, he had sounded upbeat, stating that “I won the seat the day my name was put forward.” He asked Sanjrani to resign voluntarily.

For his part, Sanjrani, too, had remained confident even though some PTI ministers appeared anxious given the expected setback. The then Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry had gone into a damage control mode, claiming that the vote of no confidence and its result “will neither affect the government nor the prime minister… It will only affect the Senate where Sadiq Sanjrani has maintained a balance. Whether the no-confidence motion succeeds or fails, this balance will be disturbed,” he had tweeted.

On August 1, 2019, the opposition appointed Senator Javed Abbasi as its polling agent. PML-N’s Chaudhry Tanvir was taken ill and did not attend. Jamat-i-Islami then announced that its two members would abstain from the vote.

Senator Muhammad Ali Khan Saif, who chaired the session, directed those in favour of the no-confidence resolution against Sanjrani to stand up and be counted. Sixty-four senators stood up in response. The opposition needed only 53 votes for the motion to pass. However, the vote was to be taken through a secret ballot.

The casting of the votes was orderly. When the votes were counted, however, only 50 votes were found to have been cast in favour of the motion and 45 against it. Five votes were rejected. The government side was jubilant. Sanjrani later thanked his friends and colleagues who considered him a good chairman. “I don’t know the 14 senators [from the opposition] who voted in my favour,” he claimed.

Later, Senator Pervaiz Rashid said that Bizenjo had been betrayed by his colleagues.

Sanjrani was re-elected as chairman defeating former prime minister and PPP’s bigwig Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani on March 12, 2021. Gillani was supported by the PML-N and the JUI-F and had a clear majority in the house. During the counting of ballots, the presiding officer, Zafar Ali Shah rejected seven votes. Sanjrani bagged 48 votes while Gillani, after the rejection of seven votes, was left with 42. Either the presiding officer or those senators from the PPP and the PML-N, who stamped the ballot papers the ‘wrong way’ had been influenced.

In January 2024, a few weeks before the general election, an independent Senator Dilawar Khan moved a resolution in the Senate, seeking a delay in the elections in the wake of cold weather and security situation. 12 members of the 14 present supported the resolution which was non binding. Sanjrani was chairing the session.

The ruling coalition intends to again nominate Yousuf Raza Gillani for Senate chairman. Sanjrani is not in the Senate any longer. However, former caretaker prime minister Kakar is likely to be elected a senator and can be a candidate. Even though the PPP, the PML-N and their allies will have a majority, Gillani cannot be sure of his success until the votes have been counted.

The writer is a senior journalist, teacher of journalism, writer and analyst. His X handle: @BukhariMubasher