The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is all set to challenge the rejection of seven votes that were cast in favour of Yousaf Raza Gilani as per news reports. Sadiq Sanjrani bagged 48 votes in the election for the slot of Senate Chairman while Gilani bagged 42 votes. Seven votes cast in Gilani’s favour were rejected due to a technicality.
None of the rejected vote types displayed inside the Senate Hall show how 7 votes could be rejected. Only 2 types of vote stamps could be rejected.The stamps anywhere inside the box for a candidate were fine,even acc to Secretary Senate.He was “overruled” by presiding officer pic.twitter.com/oBZmzfo5lX
The seven votes that were rejected had stamps on the candidate’s name but were inside the box. Senator Farooq H Naek said that the presiding officer does not have the right to reject “our vote if it has been stamped inside the box and on the candidate’s name”. Presiding officer Muzaffar Hussain Shah explained why those votes were rejected.
It was pointed out that the written instructions in the Senate Hall were different from the reasons being given by the presiding officer.
یہ ایک ووٹ مسترد ہوا جو گیلانی کے لئے ہے۔ ساتھ والی تصویر میں الیکشن کمیشن کی طرف سے ہدایات بھی دیکھ لیجیے۔ کہیں نہیں بتایا کہ خانے میں نام کے اوپر مہر نہیں لگانی۔ pic.twitter.com/yQJqsqG85w
Former Secretary to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said on Geo News that the votes should have been valid and this decision can be challenged in the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, government senators say it was clearly stated in the Instruction Book how to vote and that these votes were wasted deliberately.
انسٹرکشن بک میں واضح طور پر لکھا ہوا تھا کہ امیدوار کے نام کے سامنے ٹھپہ لگائیں.. یہ کہیں نہیں لکھا ہوا کہ نام کے اوپر ٹھپہ لگائیں.. پی ڈی ایم کےارکان نےچیئرمین کےانتخاب میں جان بوجھ کر ووٹ ضائع کروایا، پی ٹی آئی سینیٹر محسن عزیز@NayaPakistanGeopic.twitter.com/le9G1613QT
Samina Peerzada, in a recent tweet, expressed her confusion over the recent Senate Elections.
Referring to Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz’s (PML-N) slogan “Vote ko izaat do,” Samina wrote: “Kis kay vote ko izat dein (Whose vote should we respect)?”
Earlier, the veteran actor had said: “Kya hum vote jorr torr karnay kay lie detay hain ya mulk ki behtari kay lie (Do we vote for manipulation or for the betterment of the country)?”
کیا ھم ووٹ جوڑ توڑ کرنے کے لئے دیتے ہیں یا ملک کی بہتری کے لئے
Earlier on Friday, before the voting for the Senate Chairman began, senators Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Dr Musadik Malik of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) stated that they found spy cameras in the polling booth in Senate. Senator Khokhar and Dr Musadik, in a series of tweets, posted pictures of cameras they found and a series of allegations started on Twitter by Mustafa, Malik and Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry.
While the government alleged that the opposition installed the camera to create a ruckus, the Pakistan Democratic Movement accused the government of installing them to tamper votes. Senator Mustafa alleged that Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani was seen leaving the Senate building early morning at 5:30 am on the eve of the elections.
It is still unclear who installed the cameras but it is worth mentioning that the elections for Senate chairman and deputy chairman are critical for both the government and the opposition.
Meanwhile, government’s candidate for the Senate chairmanship Sanjrani won after getting 48 votes, beating Gilani with a lead of six votes.
The ruling party’s candidate, Sadiq Sanjrani, was on Friday elected as the Senate chairman, defeating joint opposition’s candidate Yousaf Raza Gilani by reportedly three votes.
According to reports, Sanjrani received 48 votes against Gilani’s 42 whereas seven of the latter’s votes were rejected during count.
Earlier, polling for the Senate chairman’s post started at 3 pm, presided over by officials from the Senate Secretariat.
The process of voting completed at 4:40 pm, but counting started after the official time, i.e. 5 pm.
Earlier in the day, the newly-elected members of the upper house had taken their oath of office shortly after the session began at 10 am.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz has said that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will do whatever is necessary to ensure the victory of Sadiq Sanjrani in the Senate chairman election.
Speaking in Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’ as the country heads towards another critical vote following the government’s defeat at the hands of opposition alliance for Yousuf Raza Gilani’s election, the minister said the government would do whatever is required to win the Senate chairman slot.
“The JUI-F is just raising the matter to gain importance,” he said.
“Abdul Ghafoor Haideri came to meet us and we informally discussed these things while having food in the library,” he said, adding that the government also goes to Opposition senators for seeking votes in the Senate elections.
To a question whether the Senate chairman would be elected by seeking votes, using power or using money, Faraz said the opposition always violates rules and uses money. “We are ready this time. It can’t happen that we play Sharif Sharif [morally] and do everything according to law. We would do everything necessary for winning,” Shibli said.
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چیرمین سینیٹ کا انتخاب جیتنے کے لیے جو کرنا پڑا کریں گے۔ اس دفعہ ہم تیار ہیں، یہ نہیں ہوسکتا کہ ہم اپنے ہاتھ قانون کے تحت پیچھے باندھ لیں اور اپوزیشن کچھ بھی کرے۔ وزیر اطلاعات شبلی فراز
He added that it was not possible that the government remains unmoved, while the opposition uses every tactic for its benefit, which was witnessed in the Senate elections. Faraz said the government would not play “nicely” and would make every effort for the success of its candidate.
“It’s not happening that the opposition is allowed to even touch the ball in a football game with hand, while the government just plays with the foot. Love begets love and vice versa,” he said.
The minister, however, made it clear that he was not talking about using money in the Senate election.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has rejected a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) seeking to stop the notification of newly-elected Senator Yousaf Raza Gilani.
According to reports, the election watchdog sought amendments to the petition.
فی الحال الیکشن کمیشن نے یوسف رضا گیلانی کا نوٹیفیکیشن روکنے کی PTI درخواست مسترد کر دی ہے۔ PTI کو ترمیم شدہ درخواست جمع کروانے کا کہا گیا ہے۔
Last Wednesday, Gilani, who was fielded as a joint candidate of the 11-party Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on a technocrat seat from Islamabad, defeated Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh in Senate elections in a major setback to the government. He received 169 votes to the latter’s 164.
On Saturday, three PTI leaders — Farrukh Habib, Maleeka Bokhari, and Kanwal Shauzab — approached the election commission to halt the issuance of the victory notification for Gilani until a probe into a contentious video, showing the former prime minister’s son Ali Haider Gilani explaining to MPs how to waste their votes, is completed.
In another petition filed on Monday, the trio sought an early hearing of the case which was earlier scheduled for March 11 — a day before the election for the office of Senate chairman.
“The matter is extremely important as a senator elected with corrupt practices is now aspiring to become the chairman of Senate,” the petition said.
“It is a matter of utmost importance, which will have far-reaching consequences.”
“The election of Yousuf Raza Gilani has been a rare incident in the national political history,” the request further said.
“Hopefully, the election commission will hear the matter urgently, as it heard the issue related to [the] by-election in NA-75, Daska.”
“The issuance of the notification should be stopped till the action on the video scandal is completed,” the petition said.
The video, which had emerged hours before legislators across the country were set to go to Senate elections, showed Ali Gilani explaining to MPs how to cancel their votes. In a press conference, Ali Gilani accepted that he was in the leaked video, but denied he was engaging in a deal to buy votes for his father.
A separate video clip showed Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah assuring four MPs of getting paid “over and above” the agreed amount and also resolve all issues from the provincial government.
The person, who was seen finalising the deal, told Shah that all the four were “sold” and, in return, Shah also assured the legislators that all the tasks of his “brothers” were now his own responsibility.
Yousaf Raza Gilani, who defeated Minister for Finance Hafeez Sheikh in the recent Senate polls, has been nominated by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) as its joint candidate for Senate chairman. PDM decided this today in a meeting chaired by Maulana Fazlur Rehman. The elections for Senate chairman will be held on March 12 and will be done through secret balloting.
On the other hand, the government has announced the candidature of Sadiq Sanjrani as its nominee for Senate chairman.
Prime Minister Ìmrañ Khan has announced Sadiq Sanjrani for Senate Chairmanship.
After Gilani’s surprise win in the Senate, PM Khan sought a vote of confidence in the National Assembly andwon on Saturday. Needing the support of 172 MPs in the 342-seat House to retain its confidence, the prime minister secured 178 votes.
In August 2019, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani survived a no-confidence move tabled against him by the joint opposition. The opposition’s no-trust motion against Sanjrani failed to receive the 53 votes required for his removal even though at the start of the session, 64 senators had stood up in support of the motion.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued a statement rejecting the “discussion and unhappiness” over the way Senate polls were conducted.
“It is a shocking matter that under the same staff in the same [election] under the same roof on the same day, [what they won] is acceptable and [what they lost] is unacceptable. Is this not [an] open contradiction?” questioned the commission.
A day earlier, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan had criticised the election watchdog for allowing “foul play” in the elections for the upper house of the parliament.
“The ECP rejects this,” Friday’s statement added. “This is democracy and free elections and the beauty of free elections which the entire nation saw and which is mandated by the Constitution.”
Every political party and politician should have the courage to accept its defeat, it said.
The electoral body said that if someone disagreed with the ECP’s results, they should come forward with evidence.
“We have neither come under pressure from anybody and neither will we [do so in the future].”
The ECP’s statement came after an urgent meeting was convened following the premier’s accusations.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government will soon be required to pick a new finance minister as Abdul Hafeez Shaikh’s tenure of six months is going to expire in June 2021 following his loss in the Senate election.
Hafeez Shaikh, who took oath as Minister for Finance on December 11, 2020, was contesting for the Senate seat from Islamabad from the platform of the PTI and it was requisite for him to win the polls to continue the same portfolio since he was an unelected individual to head the ministry. However, under the Constitution, it would not be possible to serve as finance minister as he has been defeated by former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, the joint candidate of the PDM, in yesterday’s Senate race.
According to reports, PTI lawmakers and allied parties’ lawmakers were not happy with the PM’s decision to award a ticket to his aide on finance as many saw Sheikh as a “parashooter” in the PTI ranks.
Regardless of what factors led to the debacle with his own party members rejecting him, shouldn’t finance minister hafeez sheikh take an honourable exit by resigning his office? Even if for optics and secretly hoping for reappointment by the PM
As the country witnesses what are being termed by pundits as the “most controversial” Senate polls in its 74-year history, it has emerged that joint opposition’s candidate Yousuf Raza Gilani met with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Khan Tareen days before the critical electoral process marred by horse-trading allegations.
Sources claim that Gilani, who is the Upper House candidate of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) from Islamabad besides being a critical election for the opposition to give the ruling PTI a tough time, met Tareen at the wedding of another ruling party lawmaker’s son.
Interestingly, both the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) stalwart and Tareen, who reports claim is at odds with Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s government since after the sugar crisis scandal, have over the days leading to the Senate elections denied having met each other.
“I have always strived for the PTI with my heart and soul and my support is always for the party,” Tareen was quoted as saying when he denied the meeting of which The Current also has photographic evidence.
The former premier, on the other hand, had also refuted speculation that he met Tareen. “I have neither met Jahangir Tareen neither established contact with him,” he had told media persons on the same day as the PTI leader.
“The two spent quite a lot of time at the wedding of veteran politician and PTI MNA Riaz Fatyana’s son on February 11. They exchanged pleasantries and were seen dining together on top of spending almost all their time at the event with each other,” sources told The Current.
Sources, however, could not confirm the topics of discussion between the two leaders from rival parties and if then-forthcoming Senate polls or Gilani’s election, in particular, were among the things discussed between Gilani and Tareen.
While Tareen and Gilani could not be reached out for a comment, another attendee of the said event, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former National Assembly speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has confirmed the encounter.
Speaking to The Current, Sadiq said that Fatyana has good relations in each and every party and he had known the now PTI and former PML-N leader since the year 2000.
“We have been colleagues since 2002. At his son’s wedding, I was the only MNA from PML-N. Gilani Sahib was the only one from PPP during the one hour I was there. If others came later, I have no idea. But there was no discussion on the issue of Senate at all.”
While Sadiq did confirm Tareen’s presence and exchange of pleasantries between the politicians, he said that he did not notice any interaction between Gilani and Tareen for as long as he himself was there.
A contest for the crucial Islamabad seat in the Senate is currently underway between Gilani and Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh. The vote count is scheduled to begin at 5 pm.
With less than 24 hours to go, another controversy has come to the fore regarding the Senate elections.
A leaked video of Ali Haider Gillani – son of former Prime Yousaf Raza Gillani – was aired by ARY News, where he is heard talking about how to waste Senate vote.
It seems that the other person is from the ruling party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). According to reports, the video was recorded a week ago.
Addressing a press conference after the leaked video was aired, Ali Haider Gillani admitted the video was real and that he met more than one MNA over the course of campaigning for his father.
He said he was not buying votes but was telling PTI member of how to waste his vote as that member did not want to vote for his own party.
“Where do I talk about money in the video? I did no wrong. This is to distract us.”
The Election Commission of Pakistan has taken notice of the video and Gillani’s response and will be taking up the issue.
