KARACHI: Horse-trading rumours swirl around some senior lawmakers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz as the identity of those five opposition members of the Sindh Assembly who voted for the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party in the March 5 senate election remains shrouded in mystery, it emerged on Saturday.

Excluding four MPAs of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf who stayed away from the Thursday polling process, opposition PML-N and PML-Functional had total 18 lawmakers in the assembly, while the collective strength of the PPP and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement was 143 votes.

The PPP-MQM alliance needed 146 votes to win all the seven general seats of the senate from Sindh. While the MQM had the required votes to win its two seats, the PPP managed to get the support of two members of the opposition National Peoples Party, but on the day of polling it was still short of one vote to win its fifth seat.

However, the lone opposition candidate, Imamuddin Shauqeen, received only 13 votes and the PPP-MQM alliance got 150 votes. The election result showed that five opposition members cast their votes in favour of PPP candidates instead of their candidate Shauqeen.

Senior PML-F leader Pir Sadruddin Shah Rashidi told Dawn that his party knew on the eve of polling day that its candidate would get only 18 votes since the PPP managed to get unseated PML-F’s Jam Madad Ali and then obtained support of the NPP. It was quite clear that PTI lawmakers would not come to the house to vote, he added.

“But the ruling party, even after getting support of two NPP votes, was short of the required numbers for its fifth candidate and it certainly used all tactics to change the loyalty of our five voters,” he said, adding that he was not in a position to identify any of those five MPAs.

He said the recovery of two blank papers in the ballot box negated the ruling party’s claims of transparency and holding free and fair elections.

Another senior PML-F leader, Syed Muzaffar Husain Shah, told Dawn that the party had launched a probe and the opposition MPAs who got development packages, government jobs quota and funds would be investigated.

When his attention was drawn towards Information Minister Sharjeel Memon’s statement that suggested that PML-N lawmakers had supported the PPP candidates, Mr Shah said that Mr Shauhqeen was the joint candidate of the PML-F and PML-N whose candidate, Zafar Ali Shah, had withdrawn his nomination papers in Mr Shauqeen’s favour.

PML-N leader Saleem Zia, who has been elected senator from Punjab, categorically said that his party’s lawmakers were not involved in horse-trading and did not change sides.

Former chief ministers Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim and Liaquat Jatoi of the PML-N also claimed that they supported the opposition candidate despite the fact that they had reservations with the PML-N leadership. Syed Ejaz Ali Shah Shirazi of the same party also claimed that the Shirazi group did not strike a deal with the ruling party and it remained loyal to the PML-F candidate.

Referring to internal differences within the Sindh chapter of the PML-N, PPP leader Senator Taj Haider said it was quite possible that the ruling party got the “dissenting votes”.

Besides, he said, the PPP leadership had “more convincing powers” than other parties.

Responding to horse-trading allegations, Sindh parliamentary affairs minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro said that the PPP with the support of the MQM was already in a comfortable position and it won its all five seats after getting support of two NPP lawmakers. He conceded that PPP candidate Islamuddin Shaikh got 24 votes — three more votes than the required 21 votes — but it appeared that some of the PPP lawmakers made mistakes in mentioning the second and third priority while casting their votes.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2015

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