Gilani’s Petition Against Chairman Senate Election Accepted For Hearing

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has accepted the petition of Leader of the Opposition Yousuf Raza Gilani for hearing against the election of Chairman Senate and issued notices to the Chairman Senate and others.

In the Islamabad High Court, Justice Amir Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri heard the appeal of opposition leader Yousuf Raza Gilani against the chairman Senate election.

Appearing in the court on behalf of Yousuf Raza Gilani, Farooq H Naik took the position that the single bench rejected our application on two grounds, one because of Article 69 and the other that there was an alternative forum.

Farooq H Naik said that Senate elections are held under Article 60 of the Constitution and under Article 67 the House has to make rules.

He said that Rules and Procedure 2012 was framed by the Senate in which the rules related to the election of the Chairman are silent and the procedure for the election of the Chairman Senate is not present in the Rules.

He said that before the election, the secretary met the senate and explained the method of voting but the presiding officer rejected 7 votes on the ground that the stamp did not look right.

Justice Amir Farooq queried that you are saying that the petition itself was rejected as it was admissible.

Providing a copy of the decision of the Sindh High Court, Farooq H Naik said that there was no procedure for the election of the Chairman Senate in Article 60 of the Rules and Procedure.

He further said that Senate elections are held in accordance with the Constitution of Pakistan and not under the Election Act, the Senate has made rules under Article 67 and Rule 9 mentions the election of the Chairman.

Farooq H Naik said that the rules on the procedure of election of Chairman Senate are silent while the Constitution is also silent on the election of Chairman Senate.

The court inquired that you are saying that the procedure of chairman election does not exist, it is being done through practice.

The PPP leader said that the presiding officer also cast his vote but legally he could not cast his vote. We are not challenging the presiding officer but we are challenging him to reject seven votes.

The court further inquired as to what the single bench has said regarding the alternative forum. On this, Farooq H Naik said that elections are not held under the Act so there is no alternative forum to challenge the rejection of votes.

“If I bring a no-confidence motion, it means I have accepted the election and I have accepted the decision to reject 7 votes,” he said.

“The presiding officer told me that if there is a problem, you can go to court,” he said.

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has accepted the appeal of Yousuf Raza Gilani for a formal hearing and issued notices to the parties including Senate Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani.

The court also sought reply from the law secretary, parliamentary affairs secretary, presiding officer and others and adjourned the hearing till April 27.

Election of Chairman Senate

It may be recalled that on March 13, the election of the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Senate was held in which Yousuf Raza Gilani and Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri were the candidates from the PDM while Sadiq Sanjrani and Muhammad Khan Afridi were the government candidates.

The ruling coalition in the upper house includes 27 members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, 12 members of Balochistan Awami Party, 3 members of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Pakistan, 3 independent members and one each of PML-Q and GDA.

On the other hand, the opposition has 21 members of PPP, 17 members of PML-N (excluding Ishaq Dar), 5 members of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) while ANP, BNP Mengal, PK Map and National Party. K2, 2 members and one member of Jamaat-e-Islami.

However, 98 members of the upper house cast their votes out of which Sadiq Sanjarani got 48 votes while Yousuf Raza Gilani got 42 votes while 7 votes in favour of Yousuf Raza Gilani were rejected.

Interestingly, 98 votes were cast for the Deputy Chairman Senate and no vote was rejected. Despite this, Mirza Muhammad Afridi got 54 votes while Abdul Ghafoor Haideri got 44 votes.