PML-N senator says he was asked to vote for Sanjrani for Senate chairman election

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Hafiz Abdul Kareem claimed on Thursday that he had received several WhatsApp calls and was told not to vote for PDM candidate Yousuf Raza Gillani for Senate chairman election, ARY News reported.

While addressing a press conference flanked by former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal, PML-N senator Hafiz Abdul Kareem said that he had received three calls on WhatsApp in the last few days in which he was asked to vote for government-backed candidate Sadiq Sanjrani for upper house poll to be held on March 12.

“I received first WhatsApp call on March 6 at 4:05 pm, a second phone call on March 7 and third call on March 9 from an unknown number and told not to vote for Yousuf Raza Gilani for upper house chairman slot,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that PML-N senators received WhatsApp calls in the last few days and were pressurized to vote for Sadiq Sanjrani in the Senate Chairman election.

Earlier in the day, PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz claimed that her party’s Senators were being called and told not to vote for the PDM, as the government and Opposition both brace for the Senate chairman and deputy chairman elections.

The Senate will elect its chairman and deputy chairman after the oath-taking of 48 newly elected members of the Upper House of Parliament in Islamabad tomorrow.

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

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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.

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.