Opposition ready to challenge Sanjrani’s win in Senate

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

— SenatorSherryRehman (@sherryrehman) March 13, 2021

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.

WATCH: Presiding Officer explains why eight votes were rejected in #SenateChairman election pic.twitter.com/LIcsAeWhlV

— Dunya News (@DunyaNews) March 12, 2021

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

— Gharidah Farooqi (T.I.) (@GFarooqi) March 12, 2021

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.

Former election commission secretary Kanwar Dilshad on the 7 rejected votes pic.twitter.com/HZZMag31Gk

— Murtaza Ali Shah (@MurtazaViews) March 12, 2021

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@NayaPakistanGeo pic.twitter.com/le9G1613QT

— Shahzad Iqbal (@ShahzadIqbalGEO) March 12, 2021