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.

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.

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.