ISLAMABAD: PTI’s candidate Sadiq Sanjrani has been declared Chairman by the presiding officer Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah.
Rejecting the presiding officer’s ruling PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari held that PDM had defeated the PTI government in the National Assembly and Senate: “Seven votes for the chairman of the Senate of Pakistan were cast in favor of Yousaf Raza Gillani.
“Those votes were cast properly, legally, constitutionally, but seven senators of the Senate of Pakistan were purposefully disenfranchised and Gillani sahib, despite winning, has still not sat on that seat. Those seven votes were in line with whichever Supreme Court precedents you wish to bring up or the stance or position of the ECP, they were legal votes…
“A vote is cast when the intention of the voter becomes clear. Seven votes were invalidly rejected…if these seven votes are added, then Yousaf Raza Gillani has won. Yousaf Raza Gillani has become the chairman of the Senate”.
Sherry Rehman took to the Twitter to hold: “Nowhere do these rules pasted on the Senate polling stand say that your vote is rejected if it’s on the name. It is only rejected if the stamp goes out of the box or falls outside the line. The RO decided to reject 7 votes because Yusuf Raza G had won by those votes at 50.”
The instructions given to voters were: “The names of the candidates are stated on the ballot paper. Stamp inside the box of your favoured candidate. While folding the ballot paper, make sure that the stamp’s ink does not spread in any way to the box with the other candidate’s name or some other place. Any other mark on the ballot paper will also make it invalid. Taking a picture of the ballot paper or showing it to someone else is forbidden. While folding the ballot paper, make sure that the government stamp on the back of the paper can be seen. After coming out of the booth, put your vote in the ballot box placed in front of the secretary senate.”
Challenging the results Farooq Hamid Naek, pointed out that the secretariat did not made it clear where to stamp and it was supposed to be inside the box. Whereas, the treasury bench held that the instructions in the related manual was about stamping the box in front of the name.
Sadiq Sanjrani, the first law-maker from the Province of Balochistan to get this distinction, was earlier elected the Chairman Senate in March 2018. At that time he was supported by the joint opposition that included a number of political entities including PTI and PPP.
Next year opposition failed to remove him by means of no-trust vote. On that occasion too as much as 14 members of the opposition wasted their votes clandestinely facilitating his survival. It is pertinent to mention here that Sanjrani had worked for PPP-P’s complaint cell in-charge for five years.
PTI candidate Mirza Mohammad Afridi elected Deputy Chairman Senate: 54 senators voted PTI’s candidate Mirza Mohammad Afridi to the post of Deputy Chairman Senate. PDM’s Maulana Abdul Ghafoor got only 44 votes.
PM Imran Khan congratulated Sadiq Sanjrani and Mirza Mohammad Afridi on winning Senate Chairman and Deputy Chairman elections: “I am happy Balochistan and former FATA got these two slots in line with my policy of mainstreaming those parts of Pakistan that have been marginalized or left behind in the past.”
FM Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi extended felicitations to Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani and Deputy Chairman Mirza Muhammad Afridi on their victory: “Today democracy wins and the buyers and sellers face defeat,” he held.
Federal Minister for Interior Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said that Sadiq Sanjrani’s victory was a success of the PM. He pointed out that Imran Khan wanted to hold Senate elections by show of hands but the opposition rejected the idea.
Earlier, the newly elected 48 parliamentarians took oath.
Secretary Senate Mohammad Qasim Samad Khan welcomed all existing and newly-elected members and handed over the chair to Senator Sayed Muzffar Hussain Shah, who had been nominated as Presiding Officer for special sitting of the House by President Dr Arif Alvi.
Presiding Officer Sayed Muzaffar Hussain Shah administered the oath. Those who took oath and signed the roll, include Kamil Ali Agha of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Afnan Ullah Khan of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Aon Abbas of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhry (PTI), Sajid Mir (PML-N) and Irfan-ul-Haq Siddiqui (PML-N), Azam Nazeer Tara (PML-N) and Syed Ali Zafar (PTI), Zarqa Suharwardy Taimur (PTI), Saadia Abbasi PML-N, Mohsin Aziz (PTI), Liaquat Khan Tarakai, (PTI), Syed Shibli Faraz (PTI), Hidayatullah Khan (ANP), Faisal Saleem Rehman, (PTI), Atta-ur-Rehman (JUIP) and Zeeshan Khan Zada (PTI), Dost Muhammad Khan (PTI), Muhammad Hamayun Mohmand (PTI) , Sania Nishtar (PTI), Falak Naz (PTI), Gurdeep Singh, Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani (PPPP) , Fawzia Arshad (PTI), Sheher Bano Sherry Rehman (PPPP), Syed Faisal Ali Sabzwari (MQM-P), Saleem Mandviwala (PPPP), Taj Haider (PPPP), Muhammad Fesal Vawda (PTI), Shahadat Awan (PPPP), Jam Mahtab Hussain (PPPP), Farooq Hamid Naek (PPPP), Saifullah Abro (PTI), Palwasha Mohammed Zai Khan (PPPP), Khalida Ateeb, Muhammad Abdul Qadir, Muhammad Qasim (BNP), Molana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri (JUIP), Prince Ahmed Umer Ahmedzai (BAP), Umer Farooq (ANP), Manzoor Ahmed (BAP), Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti (BAP), Kamran Murtaza (JUIP), Saeed Ahmed Hashmi (BAP), Samina Mumtaz (BAP), Naseema Ehsan (Independent), and Danesh Kumar (BAP).
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