ISLAMABAD – Members of the upper house of the Parliament will elect Senate chairman and deputy chairman through a secret ballot today (Friday).
According to the Senate Secretariat, the session will meet in the morning at 10:00am for the oath-taking of the newly elected senators.
The ruling party’s Sadiq Sanjrani and Mirza Muhammad Afridi and the joint opposition’s Yousaf Raza Gillani and Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri will be in a poll fight for the slots of Senate chairman and deputy chairman.
Senator Sayed Muzafar Hussain Shah has been nominated as the presiding officer. He will administer the oath of the members-elect.
Later, the newly elected senators will sign the roll of the members, after which the presiding officer will announce the schedule for the election of the chairman and the deputy chairman of the Senate.
After Friday prayers, the session will resume at 3:00pm and a second chance will be given to members-elect, if any, to take the oath.
After the adjournment of the session, nomination papers for the chairman and deputy chairman will be submitted.
Later, the session would resume in the evening the same day to elect the chairman and deputy chairman of the Upper House.
On the other hand, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance of 10-Opposition parties, has nominated Yousaf Raza Gillani and Abdul Ghafoor Haider as candidates for slots of chairman and deputy chairman respectively.
A tough contest is expected between Sanjrani and Gillan, who served a major blow to the PTI after defeating its candidate Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in Senate elections.
