Free and fair elections and other electoral procedures are considered as a foundation for the existence of democracy. But unfortunately in third world states there are serious faults in the electoral ways and mechanisms, which are itself disastrous for democracy. People’s hegemony in the form self-governance is very much needed to ensure the democratic norms. For instance, if we take Pakistan as a case study we can conclude elections as; mandate theft, rigging, horse trading, abduction of presiding officers, foreign funding, external involvement and the list goes on. These all are the menaces which halt a state to experience the fruits of true democracy. How a democracy would be beneficial for a state where all the democratic norms and values are kept aside. Without morals and norms democracy is a mere an autocracy. In contemporary scenario, the ruling party is leaving no stone unturned to make senate polls on show off hands policy and for this they are even trying to pass the Presidential ordinance. Government is striving hard to conduct free and fair elections, but the opposition is knocking every door to halt the senate elections on the basis of showoff hands.
PTI government is serious regarding election reforms in Pakistan, which is why it is not in the favor of secret balloting for the upcoming senate polls. It is obvious that government is really interested to eradicate the roots of horse trading, which is a common practice in senate elections. Opposition parties designated themselves as champion of democracy, but this hawkish behavior from their side will be more fatal for democracy rather than favorable. The purpose behind the opposition’s struggle is very immoral and victory centric. In Pakistan, every political party has always claimed rigging, yet the system moves on with its corrupt practices. Now when a ruling party is going to inculcate some morals and values in the electoral process, in response we see all the opposition parties stood against the government. The dream of unbiased, free and fair elections will only come true when political parties will able to reform the entire electoral setup.
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