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Today is Election Day. We Pray that this Election Leads to Greater Solidarity, Stability and Prosperity to Our Beloved Pakistan.
It is a great day. This is the third election in a row, which is on time. There is excitement and rightly so. I went in the early part of the day to cast my vote and saw good number of voters. The weather was suffocating, and the polling station was crowded. But kudos to polling staff. They were sweating but they were patient and courteous.
Whosoever forms the next government, I wish to put forth some suggestions for helping the people and their representatives interact better and perform to the satisfaction of each other. The peoples’ representation has changed over the decades. Initially, most assembly members used to come from landed aristocracy. They had money and population on their land who voted for their landlord with complete submission. Now, the members come from all walks of life, landlords, businessmen, professionals, commoners and so on. The rules of transaction need to be rewritten.
- Connect with Constituency. It should be made mandatory that the MNAs and MPAs maintain a small secretariat in their constituency The MNA and MPA should be required to make himself available in the secretariat for at least two times a month. Failing to do so should have some penalty.
- Handling Constituents’ Matters. The elected representative’s secretariat should have permanent staff whose job would be to receive written requests, complaints, suggestions etc., issue a receipt note and forward it to the MNA/MPA. There should be follow up and the progress and outcome must be recorded and informed to the person who registered it. Failing to address constituents’ matters should be a reason for penalty.
- Attending Assembly Sessions. It should be made mandatory to attend assembly sessions. A member who fails to attend 70% session days, should be barred from contesting next election. It is not permanent disqualification, but they should be forced to skip one election.
This is just the beginning of the discussion. Do add more thinking to bring the real change……
