ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has been appointed as the presiding officer for the election of the chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate and the swearing in of the newly elected senators.

In the first session of the Senate, the oath-taking of the newly elected senators and the election of the chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate will be held, for which President of Pakistan Asif Zardari signed the summary of appointing Ishaq Dar as the presiding officer.

President Zardari on the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the summary of appointing Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.

In this regard, the Senate Secretariat said that according to the parliamentary tradition, only a present senator can be the presiding officer of the first meeting.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) postponed Senate elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the opposition members filed a plea seeking postponement due to a stand-off with the provincial government over oath-taking of MPAs-elect on the reserved seats.

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On the other hand, polling was underway on the vacant seats of the Senate in the National Assembly and two provincial assemblies with the ruling alliance  comprising Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and other smaller parties set to gain a two-thirds majority in the upper house of Parliament.