National
December 18, 2020
ISLAMABAD: Former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani has said the concept of voting in the Senate by show of hands requires a constitutional amendment and no purpose will be served by sending a reference to the Supreme Court.
“Amending proportional representation and single transferable vote in Article 59 amounts to changing the very concept for which the Senate was established,” he said while talking to the News on Thursday. He said the philosophy behind this with the drafters of the Constitution was that every shade of political opinion in the provincial assembly has representation in the federal structure, a basis of participatory federalism. He said in show of hands, the nationalists and religious parties will not be part of the mainstream. “This will give rise to another polarization within the federation,” he said, adding that to ensure transparency, the Committee of the Whole has proposed concept of secret “traceable vote” and this will not