PPP’s recent senate chairman nominee, senator Yousaf Raza Gilani was declared the leader of the opposition for the upper house of the national bicameral legislature. This was confirmed by a notification issued by the Senate Secretariat.
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After contesting on the senate hot seat as a representative of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), Mr. Gillani won against the government’s candidate, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh.
Following that he took on the Senate chairman elections again backed by the 10-party opposition alliance PDM, against the government’s candidate Mr. Sadiq Sanjarani. However, this time he lost as seven of the opposition side’s votes were discarded, and Mr. Sanjarani was elected Senate Chairman.
The opposition had immediately challenged the result of the election but was overruled by the presiding officer who said the votes had been rejected because they were not stamped correctly.
Mr. Gilani’s petition to challenge the result was rejected by Islamabad High Court, under the light of the constitution, according to which the Senate proceedings are “immune from the interference” of the high court.
Senator Sherry Rehman of PPP and Senator Yousaf Raza Gilani went to the parliament house on Friday to meet the Chairman Senate, to whom the nomination papers for the opposition leaders were submitted.
Reportedly, the application had been filed with signatures from a total of 30 senators – 21 from the PPP, two from the Awami National Party, one from the Jamaat-i-Islami, two from members belonging to Fata, and four from the independent group of Dilawar Khan.
It is interesting to note that PML-N’s signatures were not present, which is the second-largest party
PPP sources identified Senators Hidayatullah Khan, Hilal-ur-Rehman, Mushtaq Ahmed, and Nawabzada Arbab Umar Farooq as some of the names who had signed the agreement.
Rehman rubbished claims that the nomination signified the “funeral” of the PDM, adding that “this is the right of the PPP, we have 21 members.”
The issue of the Senate opposition leader has created disagreements in the ranks of the opposition alliance with both the PML-N and PPP publicly claiming their right to the key office.
The former claims that the decision of the opposition leader belonging to PML-N was taken in the PDM committee meeting and senate results have no bearing on the decision made in the meeting.
PPP agrees to this fact that agreement was made but argues that senate elections’ results do affect the situation. It must be noted as also argued by chairman PPP that PPP deserves to lead in the senate as they are the majority party among the opposition with majority of the seats.
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Chairman Sanjrani has till Saturday to nominate someone as the opposition leader of the upper house.