Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz said on Thursday that Sadiq Sanjrani will be Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf’s candidate for Senate chairmanship.
The minister tweeted that Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced Sanjrani for the Senate to slot.
The much-hyped Senate election process was completed a day earlier after which all eyes are now set on the coming election for the key offices of chairman and deputy chairman of the upper house. Though the PDM has not formally announced its candidates for the two top offices of the Upper House, several leaders, including PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, have hinted that former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani would be the joint candidate for the office of Senate chairman.
Besides the two top Senate offices, the opposition parties have also yet to decide the next opposition leader in the Senate as present opposition leader Raja Zafarul Haq, who is among 52 retiring senators, has not contested the election this time. Moreover, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is no more the largest opposition party in the Upper House and, therefore, technically speaking, it cannot have a claim on the position of the opposition leader.
However, reports said, if the PDM decides to nominate Gilani as candidate for the Senate chairman’s office, then the PML-N or Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl – the other two major components of the PDM – could demand nomination of their candidates for the offices of deputy chairman and opposition leader.
The newly elected members of the Senate will be sworn in on March 12, the Senate Secretariat said on Thursday. The tenure of the retiring senators ends March 11. A statement by the Senate Secretariat said the oath taking will be held in the morning, while the election for the Senate chairman and deputy chairman will be held the same afternoon.
