JI announces important decision over Senate chairman, deputy chairman election

ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Thursday announced not to support any candidate in the Senate chairman and deputy election to be held tomorrow (Friday), ARY News reported.

JI spokesperson confirmed that Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) will not take part in the voting process for Senate chairman and deputy chairman elections.

The religio-political party has the sole member in the Upper House of the Parliament.

Both government and opposition members had met with JI leadership and sought their support for Senate chairmanship and deputy chairman slot.

President Arif Alvi has summoned the Senate session tomorrow (Friday) at 10:00 am to elect new chairman, deputy chairman of the Upper House of Parliament.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 54 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the president has been pleased to summon the Senate to meet in the Parliament (House) Building, Islamabad, on Friday, the 12th March 2021, at 10am,” says a notification issued by the Senate Secretariat here on Thursday.

According to the Senate Secretariat, the newly elected senators will take oath in a session to be convened on Friday morning.

After the oath-taking, the session will be adjourned for submission of nomination papers for the chairman and deputy chairman slots. Later, the session will resume in the evening the same day to elect the chairman and deputy chairman of the Upper House through secret voting.

The 11-party alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) has nominated Senator-elect Yousuf Raza Gillani and JUI-F general secretary Ghafoor Haideri as joint candidates for the Senate chairman and deputy chairman slots, respectively.

Whereas, the ruling PTI has fielded Sadiq Sanjrani and Mirza Muhammad Afridi for the coveted posts of Senate chairman and deputy chairman, respectively.

The opposition alliance has a lead of three votes on the government and its allies in the 100-member House as the opposition has 53 senators, while the government and its allies have 47 members.

Senator Ishaq Dar won’t be able to cast his ballot and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), which has one senator in the house also decided not to take part in the voting process which means the number of the opposition’s votes will be reduced to 51 while the number of the government senators has increased to 48 after independent senator Abdul Qadir joined the PTI yesterday.