KARACHI: Senate poll PPP, MMA indecisive over seat adjustments
By Our Reporter
KARACHI, Feb 7: The initial probing contacts between the Pakistan People’s Party and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal for seat adjustments in the senate election have not yet taken any decisive course while the prospective candidates remain uncomfortable with their leaders’ indecisiveness as there is hardly any time to complete formalities, according to sources.
The PPP has lost seven of its senators in the ballot for retiring members of the upper house of the parliament and looks uneasy because of the number game, they observe.
In the Sindh Assembly, the party has 58 members and, together with the eight MPAs of the MMA and one of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement, the combined opposition has a strength of 67 members. On the principle of 23, 22 and 22, the PPP may get away with three general seats, but on the technocrat and woman seat, MMA’s eight votes will prove crucial, hence the need for a trade off of one general seat from Sindh, said PPP insiders. In that case, PPP hopes to clear two general and one technocrat and woman seats.
The PPP is also willing to trade off one general seat in Sindh because it is very keen to get its retiring senator from the NWFP re-elected. In the NWFP Assembly, the PPP holds a position similar to that of MMA in the Sindh Assembly.
If the two failed to agree on seat adjustment, both of them could be the losers, to the advantage of the ruling coalition. PPP is also hoping to clear one seat from Punjab, the sources say.
The much-awaited meeting of the PPP leadership has not yet materialized because of the Ashura days.
The PPP House is apparently in disarray for the upcoming senate election and there are reports that some influential figures are trying to take advantage of the situation. Nomination papers for the election have to be submitted between February 11 and 13 with the Election Commission of Pakistan.
