Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani on Tuesday shattered PML-N leader and former finance minister Ishaq Dar’s hopes of taking oath as senator via video link.
Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani wrote back to Dar, terming oath-taking via a video link unconstitutional.
He said the PML-N senator-elect, who is currently staying in London, conveyed his intentions to take oath virtually. “Taking oath virtually is not possible as per the Constitution,” he said, quoting its Articles 65 and 255.
Dar earlier this month wrote a letter to the Senate chairman stating that he was under treatment in the UK capital and could not appear in the upper house of Parliament in person. He, therefore, requested that arrangements should be made for his oath-taking via video link.
The PML-N leader Ishaq Dar was elected as a senator on a technocrat seat from Punjab in 2018.
On Jan 10, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) restored Ishaq Dar’s membership. The Supreme Court had earlier dismissed a plea by PML-N leader Ishaq Dar against his disqualification over his absence from court proceedings, withdrawing his stay order on his Senate membership.
