After resignation of Dr Babar Awan from the Senate the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) lost its status of “single largest party” in the upper house of parliament.
With the resignation of the PPP senator after his decision to formally join the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), the number of PPP members will become 26 — equal to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N).
The PPP has been enjoying the status of the single largest party in the Senate for the past eight years. Since 2009, the PPP has managed to get three of its members as the chairman of the upper house, including the incumbent Mian Raza Rabbani. Before him, former law minister Farooq H. Naek and Nayyar Hussain Bokhari had served as the Senate chairman.
Mr Awan had managed to get the party ticket for the Senate elections in 2012
The next elections of the Senate are due in March next year. According to Article 59 of the Constitution, the Senate comprises 104 members — 23 each from the four federating units, eight from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and four from Islamabad.
The 23 seats allocated to a province comprise 14 general seats, four reserved for women, four for technocrats and one for minority member.
The term of a senator is six years, but 50 per cent of the total members retire after every three years and elections are held for new senators. Elections to fill the seats allocated to each province are held in accordance with the “system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote”.
The Fata senators are elected by the members of the National Assembly from the area whereas the four senators on the reserved seats from Islamabad are elected by the members of the National Assembly.
Therefore, the Senate elections always depend on the party positions in the four provincial assemblies and the National Assembly.