Sunni Ittehad Council terms Senate chairman, dy chairman election 'illegal'

ISLAMABAD: Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) on Tuesday declared the election of the Senate chairman and deputy chairman as “illegal and unconstitutional”, ARY News reported.

Addressing the upper house before election Barrister Ali Zafar said that the Senate has been incomplete as Senators from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province not yet been elected. “Thus, the election of the chairman and deputy chairman of the house has been an unconstitutional and illegal step”.

Senator Ali Zafar pleaded for adjournment of the Senate session. ” The election of senate chairman and deputy chairman could harm the federation,” he warned.

SIC Senator Hamid Khan has also said that unless Khyber Pakhtunkhwa elections complete, the house will remain incomplete. He called the election of the senate chairman and deputy chairman as unconstitutional. “It is a disputed matter and has been pending in the Islamabad High Court,” Hamid Khan said.

Former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani and PML-N’s Syedal Khan Nasir were returned uncontested in the election of the Senate’s chairman and deputy chairman respectively.

No candidate of opposition parties had filed nomination papers against Yousaf Raza Gillani and Nasir, who were the ruling alliance’s candidates for the Senate top offices.