-Gillani, Sanjrani eye top slot
-Government’s candidate Mirza Muhammad Afridi to face-off PDM’s Ghafoor Haideri for deputy chairman slot
-Gillani says establishment seems to be neutral
-JI to abstain from electoral process
By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: President Arif Alvi has summoned Senate session today (Friday) at 10:00 am to elect new chairman, deputy chairman of the Upper House of Parliament.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 54 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the president has been pleased to summon the Senate to meet in the Parliament (House) Building, Islamabad, on Friday, the 12th March 2021, at 10 am,” says a notification issued by the Senate Secretariat here on Thursday.
According to the Senate Secretariat, the newly elected senators will take oath in a session to be convened on Friday morning.
After the oath-taking, the session will be adjourned for submission of nomination papers for the chairman and deputy chairman slots. Later, the session will resume in the evening the same day to elect the chairman and deputy chairman of the Upper House through secret voting.
The 11-party alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) has nominated Senator-elect Yousuf Raza Gillani and JUI-F general secretary Ghafoor Haideri as joint candidates for the Senate chairman and deputy chairman slots, respectively.
Whereas, the ruling PTI has fielded Sadiq Sanjrani and Mirza Muhammad Afridi for the coveted posts of Senate chairman and deputy chairman, respectively.
The opposition alliance has lead of three votes on the government and its allies in the 100-member House as the opposition has 53 senators, while the government and its allies have 47 members.
Senator Ishaq Dar won’t be able to cast his ballot and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), which has one senator in the house also refused to cast vote, due to which, the number of the opposition’s votes will be reduced to 51 while the number of the government senators has increased to 48 after independent senator Abdul Qadir joined the PTI days back. Yousaf Raza Gillani said that it appears that establishment is neutral and hoped that it remains neutral on the voting day.
Talking to media persons, Yousaf Raza Gillani expressed confidence that opposition will win elections for Senate top positons and said that arrangements have been made to stop horse-trading.
Later in the day Jamaat-e-Islami has decided to abstain from voting in the Senate chairman and deputy chairman elections on March 12.
Jamaat-e-Islami spokesman Qaiser Sharif has confirmed that JI has decided not to support any candidate in the Senate chairman and deputy chairman elections.
He said Jamaat-e-Islami will abstain from the Senate Chairman and Depurty Chairman election by exercising its democratic right.
Earlier Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari telephoned Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami and sought his support for PDM candidate in Senate Chairman election.
Besides, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, joint candidate of PDM for Senate deputy chairman also called on Siraj-ul-Haq and asked him for support.
