Of democracy and the back-bencher! By Khalid Saleem.

WITH the sheen of the last general election wearing off, the country appears to be in an utter state of limbo.

One of the subjects oft mentioned about the present assembly is the question of quorum - or the lack of it!

There was many a comment on the sparse presence of the law makers in session after session.

One notes to one's horror that the new pattern is here to stay! What with the COVID-19 pandemic and related woes, things have understandably got worse, with nary a sign of improvement in the near future!

Be that as it may, this problem is not confined to this country alone. Other Parliaments, among them the British House of Commons and the American Congress, also have faced quorum issues, even prior to the Corona Virus pandemic.

In fact, in these Assemblies the only time there is reasonably high attendance is when there is a vote or a division on a burning issue!

What is of relevance in this land is just the fact that, more often than not, only the poor backbenchers eventually shoulder the blame.

The ministers and other quasi-leaders, as always, manage to wriggle out of the affair, leaving only the backbenchers to face the music.

Quasi-VIPs in the assemblies continue to have a rollicking good time. When they are not out of the country accompanying some VVIP on trips to far off exotic lands at taxpayers' expense, they are having an equally enjoyable time at home, presiding over public functions and attending gala banquets.

It is invariably the hapless backbencher who gets it in the neck. It would be legitimate to ask why?

Looking over the shoulder, one cannot help noticing that the backbencher has never had a good press.

He has, in deed, been equated with every saleable species. The regrettable tendency of some of this kind to swivel around a rather slick base has drawn comparison to that most shifty of all utensils - the lota.

A more apt comparison would perhaps have been to the sunflower, the blossom that constantly swirls around to be ever facing the rising sun.

That would have been more appropriate and less insulting. We proudly call our system a parliamentary democracy - and a Westminster type at that.

What we do not do is pause to ponder what makes the Westminster type of democracy tick.

It does, above all, due to the special role of the backbencher, the person whom the electorate elects from amongst his or her peers not only to represent them in parliament but also to safeguard their interests.

The backbencher, thus, provides the...