Electoral reforms.

Byline: Zaheer Sahito - Shikarpur

PAKISTAN has continuously been conducting elections under first past the post system commonly called FPTP. FPTP was first introduced by colonial rulers in subcontinent. The system has merits as well as demerits. In single member constituencies, a candidate from a constituency requires only a simple majority of the ballots cast over all his contestants irrespective of fact whether number of cumulative votes of all losing contestants is far bigger than the votes obtained by the winner individually.

This flaw attracted the attention of the Supreme Court in Workers' Party Case in 2011-12 and a healthy debate on the FPTP system ensued in the court. The Supreme Court observed that 'when there are more than two candidates, it often results in the election of a candidate who gets the most votes but who has been rejected by the majority of the voters.'

Let me simplify the court's observations. Under the FPTP, if a winning candidate obtains 30pc votes, it means 70pc of population of that constituency has rejected the winner and cast their votes in favour of other candidates. However, since the populace was divided in their choice thus none of candidates could bag 30pc votes individualistically. This gives advantage to the one who gets 30pc votes and is declared a winner under FPTP system.

Looking at the approach of the constituents cumulatively, conclusion can be drawn that majority of the constituents i.e., 70pc rejected the winner as their choice.

Another major flaw FPTP...