Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Newly elected Senator from Balochistan, Abdul Qadir on Tuesday joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The announcement was made by Qadir during a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the federal capital.
The Senator extended his full support to the premier. On the occasion, PM Khan welcomed the induction of Abdul Qadir in PTI.
It merits mention that Qadir won the Senate elections on March 3 as an independent candidate with the support from Balochistan Awami Party (BAP).
Earlier, PTI had awarded party ticket to Qadir for elections of the upper house of parliament but after strong opposition from the provincial leadership of the party, PTI took back ticket from him and nominated Zahoor Agha for the Senate election on a general seat, who lost the poll.
Senate elections: After completion of the much-hyped Senate election process, all eyes are now set on the coming election for the key offices of chairman and deputy chairman of the upper house.
Last week, the ruling coalition’s candidate Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh suffered defeat at the hands of opposition’s Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani in a major upset during the Senate elections, prompting PM Imran to announce that he would seek a vote of confidence afresh from the National Assembly.
In a show of strength, the prime minister secured 178 votes – six more than required – to win the vote of confidence from the lower house.
The opposition parties have managed to retain their majority in the upper house of parliament and are now hopeful of getting the top offices of chairman and deputy chairman for which elections through secret balloting will be held on March 12 (Friday).
As expected, a hung Senate emerged after last week’s much-hyped elections on 48 seats of the upper house of parliament as the opposition and the ruling alliances now have 53 and 47 members, respectively, in the 100-member new Senate.
A day earlier, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) formally nominated PPP’s Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani as its candidate for the office of the Senate chairman, but deferred its nominations for the offices of deputy chairman and the opposition leader.
Gilani will face incumbent Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, who has already been nominated as the candidate of the ruling alliance headed by the PTI.
