Joint opposition considers four names for Senate chairmanship
Furthermore, the next political role of the Rehbar Committee will be analysed.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – As the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) escalates efforts to de-seat Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, the joint opposition has been mulling over the names of PML-N senators Raja Zafarul Haq, Pervez Rashid, Musadiq Malik and National Party’s Hasil Bizenjo are being considered for the new Senate chairman.
Sources familiar with the matter told the media on Wednesday that the name of the final candidate would be announced after a meeting of the opposition’s ‘Rehbar Committee’ on Thursday.
The opposition’s meeting tomorrow is also anticipated to formulate its next course-of-action against Sanjrani in the upper house of the parliament.
Members of the parliament are also expected to join the Rehbar Committee in the meeting, for devising a joint strategy for launching a protest campaign against the government on July 25 – the day the opposition has termed as the “black day”.
Furthermore, the next political role of the Rehbar Committee will be analysed.
Yesterday, the opposition parties in the Senate submitted a resolution for de-seating the chairman of the Senate by bringing a no-confidence motion against him.
The resolution signed by 38 senators was submitted to the secretary of the Senate. Moreover, opposition members submitted a requisition for convening a session of the Senate.
The resolution was submitted after a meeting between members of the opposition in the chamber of Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Raja Zafarul Haq, who chaired the meeting.
Earlier yesterday, senators of the opposition parties convened a meeting in the chamber of Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Raja Zafarul Haqat, who chaired the meeting, to sign the resolution. However, two senators of the Jamat-e-Islami (JI) remained absent during the meeting.
The meeting was attended by Senators Sherry Rehman, Sassui Palijo, Ashok Kumar, Pervez Rashid, Musadiq Malik, Mushahidullah Khan and Usman Kakar among others.
According to details, the joint opposition parties have the required majority in the Senate to de-seat the senate chairman – as in the 104-member house, from the current 103 members; the support of only 53 senators is required for the senate chairmanship. The opposition parties collectively have the support of 65 senators.
In accordance with the rules of the House, the no-confidence motion with the signatures of at least one-fourth of the total number of senators can be submitted in the Senate.
According to the Rules of the Procedure, the meeting of the Senate can be called after seven days for voting on the resolution.
After the voting on the no-confidence motion, the incumbent senate chairman will leave his position, and the Senate Secretariat will issue a new schedule for voting of the new chairman.
A couple of days ago, the ‘Rehbar Committee’ of the joint opposition had decided to grant the chairmanship of the Senate to the PML-N – the party with the majority of the seats in the opposition in the National Assembly (NA).
It was also decided that the party would leave the position of the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate after having its senator as the senate chairman.
In this regard, the Rehbar Committee has been mulling over amongst its members for the designation of the opposition leader in the Senate.
Furthermore, it was also decided that no changes would be made to the position of the deputy chairman of the Senate, which is currently held by Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Saleem Mandviwala.
