ISLAMABAD: Securing a Senate seat from the federal capital may not prove to be as helpful for the ruling PML-N as they may imagine in the context of the next big contest – the election for the post of Senate Chairman – because Raheela Magsi may not be able to cast her vote in that race, owing to an order issued by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

On March 4, IHC Justice Athar Minallah, while hearing a petition filed by Ms Magsi challenging her disqualification by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), had allowed her to contest the Senate elections. But he also ordered the ECP to “restrain from issuing (the) notification of the present petitioner (Raheela Magsi), in case she is successful.”

The results of the Senate elections so far show that both the PPP and the ruling PML-N are neck-and-neck in terms of representation in the upper house and both want desperately to have their own candidate installed as chairman. In this context, the importance of every single vote had increased manifold for both sides.

Initially, the ruling party seemed happy with the court order. It was only when legal experts within the ruling party realised that the restraining order would be more beneficial to the PPP than the PML-N that they grasped the implications. Even though their candidate may secure a seat in the upper house, owing to the court order, Ms Magsi would not be in a position to cast her much-needed vote in the upcoming election for Senate chairman after the incumbent Syed Nayyer Hussain Bukhari retires on March 11.

IHC restraining order keeps ECP from notifying her victory

The ECP had disqualified Magsi on Feb 27 after Nargis Faiz Malik, a PPP candidate, questioned the transfer of her vote from Tando Allah Yar in Sindh to Islamabad.

A government official privy to the case told Dawn that the PPP legal team had outclassed the PML-N this time. “Their strategy was better and more coordinated than the ruling party’s,” he said. “The PPP not only deprived the PML-N of a vote but also put the seat at stake because despite securing 205 votes, the status of Raheela Magsi is still not clear,” he added.

Ironically, the restraining order was issued with the consent of all stakeholders, including the federal government, ECP, Raheela Magsi and the PPP.

The official, however, said that the PML-N leadership realised the gravity of the matter only after the court order was issued.

Satisfied with the order, PPP lawyer and former IHC judge Amjad Iqbal Qureshi said that: “In politics, one benefits from the other’s mistake”. Mr Qureshi represents Nargis Faiz Malik before the ECP.

“If I were on the PML-N’s side, I would recommend that Ms Magsi be dropped and her covering candidate be given chance to contest the elections to avoid such legal complications,” he added.

Sources privy to these developments said that the PPP’s senior leadership was monitoring the case personally and when Ms Magsi engaged former KP law minister Syed Iftikhar Gillani as her counsel, the PPP’s leadership asked Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan to appear before Justice Athar Minallah, the IHC Judge who was hearing Magsi’s petition.

According to the sources, PPP was not interested in Ms Magsi’s ouster, but wanted to keep her in the competition in a way that would not harm their interests.

Syed Zafar Ali Shah, an outgoing senator and senior lawyer, told Dawn that the election for the position of Senate chairman and deputy chairman would be held as per schedule.

“Unless the ECP notifies Ms Magsi’s election, she cannot cast her vote in that election,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2015

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