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A session of the Senate was convened on Tuesday, where 41 newly elected Senators took oath as members of the House amid a boycott by the PTI.
Almost a month ago, the Upper House of the Parliament became dysfunctional following the retirement of half of its members. Early this month, an election took place in Islamabad, Punjab and Sindh, but not in PTI-ruled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — where Senate polls were delayed due to an ongoing controversy over the oath-taking of opposition lawmakers on reserved seats in the provincial Assembly. Nonetheless, the ruling coalition in the centre, led by the PML-N, swept the election. After the elections, the coalition controls 59 of the 85 seats at present.
At the outset of the session, Senate Secretary Qasim Samad Khan 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.
Speaking on the floor of the House, PTI Senator Ali Zafar called for the session to be postponed till Senate elections were held in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He further said that the PTI would not take part in the Senate elections till then.
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. The session will now resume at 12:30pm to elect the Senate chairman and deputy chairman.
In the absence of any opposition, the ruling alliance is poised to clinch the slot, with the chairmanship likely going to PPP’s Yousaf Raza Gilani and the deputy chairmanship to PML-N nominee Seedal Khan Nasir.
Independent Senator Hidayatullah Khan has named Awami National Party’s Umar Farooq for the role of deputy chairman.
The PML-N has nominated Syedal Khan Nasir for the role of the +
More to follow
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