Former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and PML-N’s Saidal Nasir Khan were on Tuesday elected as the Senate chairman and deputy chairman, respectively.
They were elected unopposed, as no other candidate submitted nominations against them in the stipulated time period, with the PTI boycotting the elections.
Earlier, the session of the Upper House of parliament to administer oaths to the newly elected senators, as well as elect the chairman and deputy chairman of the House, had begun with Senator Ishaq Dar presiding over.
As the session kicked off, Foreign Minister Dar emphasized the establishment of good parliamentary traditions, amidst protests by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members. Later, 41 out of the 43 newly elected senators were sworn in, including 35 elected members and six successful candidates from by-elections.
Two newly elected members, Faisal Vawda and Maulana Abdul Wasay, did not take oath. Senator Dar administered the oath to the remaining members.
Prior to the oath-taking, opposition leader Ali Zafar from the PTI called the House incomplete, which was why the chairman and deputy chairman could not be elected. If the members are elected without representation from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the federation will suffer, he added.
"Until the Senate is complete, any election will be morally and constitutionally illegitimate. It is illegal to take oath in the absence of senators from KP. Why are we making the election of chairman and deputy chairman controversial?" the PTI leader quipped while addressing on the floor of the House.
He further said the PTI wanted to participate fully in the election, but said the Senate session was not going according to the Constitution. Therefore, he said they would not be part of this House.
The presiding officer remarked that no action could be taken before the swearing-in of the newly elected members, adding that whatever was happening was wrong.
While PTI's Mohsin Aziz said the postponement of Senate election was an illegal demand, he also maintained that without the presence of KP members, the session would be illegal. "Even if the election is postponed today, what will be so wrong? We will not be part of this unconstitutional and illegal process," he asserted.
