Former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani and PML-N’s Syedal Khan Nasir were on Tuesday elected as the Senate chairman and deputy chairman, respectively.
Senate Secretary Qasim Samad Khan confirmed to Dawn.com their election to the top roles.
When the Upper House of the Parliament convened earlier today, 41 newly elected Senators took oath as members of the House amid a protest by PTI lawmakers.
The PTI’s contention, as stated by Senator Ali Zafar on the floor of the House, was that the session, during which the chairperson and deputy chairperson would be elected, should be postponed until after the Senate elections are held in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He then announced the PTI would not participate in electing the Senate chairperson and deputy chairperson.
Almost a month ago, the Upper House became dysfunctional following the retirement of half of its members.
Early this month, elections were held in Islamabad, Punjab and Sindh, but not in PTI-ruled KP — where Senate polls were delayed on 11 seats due to provincial assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati’s refusal to administer the oath to opposition lawmakers on reserved seats. These seats were doled out to the PPP, PML-N, and other parties after the ECP rejected a plea by the PTI and SIC for the allocation of these seats.
Nonetheless, the ruling coalition in the centre, led by the PML-N, swept the elections, securing 19 seats. After the elections, the coalition controls 59 of the 85 seats at present.
At the outset of today’s session, the Senate secretary announced that the newly elected senators would take their oath of office.
He then said that the session would resume “in the afternoon” to elect the chairman and the deputy chairman.
As announced earlier, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who had won on a technocrat seat from Islamabad on April 2, is the presiding officer for the first session of the Senate.
PTI Senator Mohammad Humayun Mohmand then objected to Dar presiding over the Senate session, contending that a presiding officer should be someone who was already a Senator.
Forty-one newly elected lawmakers then took their oath as members of the Senate, with Faisal Vawda and Maulana Abdul Wasay being absent from the session.
Subsequently, the senators signed the roll of members.
In the absence of any opposition, the ruling alliance was already poised to clinch the slots, with the chairmanship likely going to Gilani and the deputy chairmanship to Nasir.
Following the session, PPP’s Saleem Mandviwalla told Dawn.com that Yousaf Raza Gilani and Saidal Nasir have been elected unopposed as Senate chairman and as the deputy chairman, respectively. Later, secretary Qasim confirmed the same.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated the new custodians of the House, terming their elections the “continuation of the democratic process”.
According to a post shared from his X account as the PML-N president, PM Shehbaz expressed the hope that Gillani and Nasir would fulfil their duty for the “supremacy of the Constitution and the country’s development”.
“The role of the Senate is highly important for the strengthening of the federal units and the observance of democratic values,” the premier emphasised.
The session is expected to resume at 12:30pm, when Gilani and Nasir will officially be declared winners.