Just when a sliver of rebellion was building within the ruling coalition, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan crushed it with the battering ram of a confidence vote at a special session of Parliament on Saturday. With the belligerent 11-party opposition boycotting the session, Imran got 178 votes in his favour, six more than the halfway mark of 172, through an open ballot. The drama began on Wednesday with the shock defeat of his finance minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh against former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani of the Pakistan Peoples Party in indirect elections to the Senate, the nation’s upper house, from Parliament and the provincial assemblies. As many as 20 ruling coalition members cross-voted to make Gilani victorious after receiving millions of rupees in bribes, Imran claimed, giving wings to the opposition charge that the government had lost its majority. The trust vote was essentially a dare at the black sheep from within to take a tilt at him, knowing fully well that they were ill-prepared to open their cards right now, as he continues to have the support of the military, the real power behind the throne.
In the process, Imran got into a blistering showdown with the country’s election commission. A leaked video of Gilani's son with possible cross-voters had created a flutter. But the poll panel went ahead with the election and later issued a rare statement to rebut the premier's charges. Imran's attempt to intimidate the election commission went against the grain of democracy, as his demand for traceable balloting in the Senate poll was not supported by law. The poll panel rightly threw the rule book at him and went for a secret ballot, saying it was up to Parliament to amend the laws if it wanted an open ballot.
By ranting at the money bags deciding victories in the Senate without providing proof, the PM has sullied its reputation, including those of his own party’s members. That he heads a corrupt Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is an unmistakable inference. With the opposition's tail up on the back of a faltering economy and runaway inflation, Imran cannot wish away the growing challenge to his hold on power. How that would affect recent attempts to normalise relations with India remains to be seen.