ISLAMABAD: As election of the Senate chairman and deputy chairman draws near, Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has kept his cards close to his chest after nominating incumbent chairman Sadiq Sanjrani for the top slot, will announce the name of deputy chairman on Thursday (today).

A source close to the prime minister said that four names were being considered for the office of deputy chairman of Senate as the ruling coalition’s candidate. While Saifullah Niazi, Ijaz Chaudhry, Mirza Afridi and Aun Abbas Bappi are being considered for the slot, the name of the nominee will be made public after the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) core committee’s meeting today.

The source said the prime minister, who called the core committee’s meeting to discuss elections of Senate chairman and deputy chairman being held on March 12 (Friday) and the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) long march scheduled to be staged on March 26, will make the final announcement.

“The government has intentionally kept open the candidature of deputy chairman to attract not only the partners in the ruling coalition but also the opposition parties for bargaining on the matter,” the source explained.

The contest for Senate chairman and deputy chairman seems to be tough for the government as the opposition enjoys a majority in the upper house of parliament. It is impossible for the government to win the polls unless some opposition members either vote for the government’s candidates or waste their votes during the secret ballot on March 12.

Currently, the upper house of parliament has 99 members (excluding Ishaq Dar of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz who did not take oath and went into self-exile). Among them, the ruling coalition has 47 members and the opposition 52 members. Even if the lone Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) member abstains from voting, just as his party had done in last week’s Senate election, the opposition will still have a lead of four votes.

However, three years ago when the opposition had 26 seats more than the ruling coalition, Mr Sanjrani was not only elected as Senate chairman but also retained his seat when the opposition attempted to remove him through a no-confidence motion against him.

Senate elections are held for half of the members after every three years. A senator is elected for a period of six years while the term of the chairman and deputy chairman is three years.

While the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) has already fielded Yousuf Raza Gilani of the Pakistan Peoples Party and Abdul Ghafoor Haideri of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl as joint candidates of the opposition for the election of chairman and deputy chairman of Senate, the ruling PTI is busy in meetings with its coalition partners.

Senator-elect Gilani defeated incumbent Finance Minister Dr Hafeez Shaikh, who was government candidate from Islamabad, in the recent Senate election.

Also, PM Khan in a meeting with Mr Sanjrani reposed confidence in his candidature for the office of Senate chairman for another term.

Later, Mr Sanjrani and Defence Minister Pervez Khattak met a delegation of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) to discuss the Senate polls.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2021