March 10, 2003	Monday	Muharram 6, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, March 9: The election for the Senate chairman and deputy chairman will be held on Wednesday, with PML-Q appearing to be certain to grab both the offices.

The Senate secretariat said in a statement on Sunday the election for the two offices would be held after oath-taking by members-elect at a sitting to be presided over by former Senate chairman Wasim Sajjad.

Neither the PML-Q nor the opposition parties have named their candidates for the chairman and the deputy chairman.

But political sources said the ruling coalition led by the PML-Q was certain to win both the offices with likely support from most of the independents elected to Senate.

A PML-Q spokesman, Azim Chaudhry, told Dawn that party chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain would hold a meeting with party colleagues on Monday to decide about party candidates for the Senate chairman and deputy chairman.

The Senate secretariat said the president had nominated Mr Sajjad to preside over the sitting, following a precedent set in the 342-seat National Assembly’s inaugural session last November that was chaired by the lower house’s previous speaker, Illahi Bakhsh Soomro.

“Since Mr Wasim Sajjad is himself a member-elect, he along with other members-elect will take oath before the Senate,” the secretariat statement said.

“He will also conduct the election for the office of chairman Senate,” the statement said, indicating that Mr Sajjad himself will not be a candidate for the same office.

ELECTION SCHEDULE: While the inaugural session is due to begin at 9.00am on March 12, the Senate secretariat said nomination papers for the election of the chairman and deputy chairman would be received by Senate secretary Shahid Iqbal in his office before 12 noon.

“The rules permit any member of the Senate to propose another member for election as chairman or deputy chairman by delivering to the secretary Senate before 12 noon a nomination paper signed by him and accompanied by a statement of the member whose name has been proposed that he is willing to serve as chairman/deputy chairman,” the secretariat statement said.