[Current Affairs] March 15, 2021 Top Pakistan Current Affairs for FPSC Test Preparation

2. Do I spy a camera in the voting booth?

What’s going on? The govt-backed candidate for Senate Chairman, Sadiq Sanjrani, defeated the opposition alliance’s candidate, Yousaf Raza Gillani. Sanjrani got 48 votes while Gillani got 42. Sanjrani is a member of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), which is a part of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s ruling alliance in the Senate. He will now serve another term as Senate Chairman. Gillani is a member of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).  PTI-backed Senator, Mirza Moha­m­mad Afridi, was also elected Deputy Chairman.

The details: Opposition members challenged the result after Senator Muzaffar Hussain Shah, who supervised the vote, rejected seven ballots in favor of Gillani. According to Shah, the ballots were stamped incorrectly (i.e. the stamp was on the candidate’s name, instead of the designated box). Another vote was rejected because both candidates were marked on the ballot, bringing the total number of rejected votes to eight.

Tell me more: PPP Senator, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, tweeted that he found a “spy camera” over the main voting booth. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator, Dr. Musadik Malik also said he found a “secret/hidden camera” in the Senate voting booth. Science and Technology Minister, Fawad Chaudhry, responded to Khokhar’s tweet and said the camera looks more like a CCTV cable, which is for regular building security.

Something to know: Elections for the Senate and Senate office holders are conducted through a secret ballot system. The votes are supposed to be confidential. The alleged spy cameras suggest that someone is trying to take a peek at the secret ballots.

The context: The election for Senate Chairman took place after the main Senate election, which was on March 3. Gillani was the opposition alliance’s joint candidate for the Senate seat from Islamabad. He defeated the govt-backed PTI candidate, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh. PM Khan accused the opposition of bribing PTI lawmakers to vote for Gillani. The opposition denied PTI’s allegation. Even though PTI is the largest party in the Senate, the opposition alliance still has a slight majority.

Looking ahead: Senator Khokhar and Senator Malik requested the formation of a Senate committee to investigate the alleged spy cameras. They also said the cameras were “a great blow to democracy, the rule of law, and the Constitution.”

The bottom line: After feeling sore about losing the Senate seat from Islamabad, PM Khan and his PTI party have something to celebrate after their preferred candidates won the Senate Chairman and Deputy Chairman election. At the same time, PTI and the opposition alliance are accusing each other of installing spy cameras in the voting booth.