ISLAMABAD, July 30: The government has decided to drop the proposal for the change in the electoral college of the Senate.

It is learnt that the proposal of direct election for the Senate has been dropped and the relevant departments have been informed accordingly.

The Election Commission, which had placed orders for the preparation of boxes for Senate elections, has cancelled all such orders, sources said.

The proposal for increase in the seats of the Senate from 87 to 100 is likely to be retained as it was approved by all the segments of society.

Under the 1973 Constitution, the provincial assemblies indirectly elect the senators to represent the provinces. The senators from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) are indirectly elected by the members from Fata in the National Assembly.

The National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) had mooted the proposal for change in the electoral college on the ground that the upper house’s electoral process had lost credibility which had affected the political and moral authority of the Senate.

It was proposed that the existing indirect election should be replaced with a direct election through proportional representation based on open party lists.

This method would have allowed only those political parties to nominate senators which had obtained at least five per cent of votes in the election.

Under the proposed system, the independents who return to the assemblies in substantial numbers in Pakistan, would not have any role at all.

The proposals of the NRB were opposed and it was argued that the continuity element of the Senate was being destroyed. It was also argued that if the Senate’s existing electoral college was changed, it would lead to a constitutional crisis.

The opponents of the proposal argued that the president, who was being given discretionary powers to dissolve the National Assembly and even the cabinet, would enjoy no such power with regard to the Senate.

If the president, in his discretion, decided to dissolve the National Assembly in 2003 which came into existence in 2002, the next elections would be required to be held within 90 days. The date of the expiry of both the houses, Senate and National Assembly, would collide. Under the proposed electoral college, elections to the provincial assemblies and the Senate were inter-linked and intertwined.

It is, however, not yet clear whether the proposals to give the Senate an equal role in legislation, except for Money Bills, would also be withdrawn or not.