KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari today (Wednesday) asserted that his party would knock every door against the verdict of Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Senate chairman elections.
The IHC on Wednesday dismissed former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s petition against the rejection of seven votes during the election of Senate chairman.
In his response, Bilawal expressed the hope that Gilani would eventually become the Senate chairman as he was the genuinely and legally elected chairman.
“The theft of Senate chairman elections through foul play by a presiding officer was a litmus test for the system as it may get replicated in the future thus undermining the very credibility of the democratic institutions,” he added,
The PPP Chairman further said that his party believed in the supremacy of the Constitution, which bars calling into question the proceedings of the parliament or ruling of the speaker or the chairman, in Senate’s case.
He also said that PPP also respected the independence of judiciary and fought for it in the past but Gilani had challenged the decision of a presiding officer who rejected seven votes.
On March 12, the ruling PTI-backed candidates grabbed the top slots of the Senate. In the polls, incumbent Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani was re-elected by defeating Gilani, a joint candidate of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
Ninety-eight senators had exercised their right to vote, out of which seven votes – most of which cast in favour of Gilani, were rejected. Sanjrani who had received 48 votes as opposed to 42 votes of Gilani was later declared the winner by the presiding officer, Senator Muzaffar Hussain Shah.
