LAHORE - Keeping in view the present composition of the Senate, the 15 independent members from FATA and Balochistan hold the key in the election of Senate chairman due next week.

Though the PML-N has emerged as the single largest party in the Senate with 33 Senators, the recent Senate polls have also placed the PPP in a position to manoeuver the things in its favour to elect its chairman.

Zardari’s close aide Dr Qayyum Soomro on Sunday announced that PPP had won the support of eight Senators from Balochistan.

PPP is mainly relying on the support of 15 independents from FATA and Balochistan with actual strength of 20 in the new Senate. FATA has eight Senators while Balochistan has seven independently elected Senators in the house. PPP leadership is also seeking support from JI and ANP.

PPP is considering the names of present chairman of Senate, Raza Rabbani and Sherry Rehman for the top slot.

It would be easy for the PPP to get Raza Rabbani elected as the chairman as he would be acceptable to all the political parties in the Senate given his image of a neutral person.

In the last three years, he ran the Senate over and above his party affiliation. PML-N likes him for his strong commitment with the democratic institutions.

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah on Saturday dropped a strong hint that Rabbani could be a consensus candidate for the office of Senate chairman and that the PMl-N would have no objection supporting his candidacy.

But the problem is that he is not in the good books of PPP supremo Asif Ali Zardari who is reportedly not happy with him for running the House like a neutral umpire.

According to PPP sources, Zardari was reluctant even to issue him a Senate ticket for the second time. It was only on the intervention of Bilawal Bhutto that he got the party ticket.

Also, the party leadership allocated him a smaller group of MPAs at the time of Senate elections in Sindh Assembly, but he managed to get elected though it was not a comfortable win.

PML-N is mulling over the names of Senator Pervaiz Rashid and Raja Zafarul Haq for the office of chairman. It is banking on the support from nationalist parties from Balochistan, MQM and the JUI-F.

National Party (NP) of Balochistan and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) have five Senators each in the Senate, while the JUI-F of Maulana Fazlur Rehman has four Senators. One Senator belonging to the PML-F is also most likely to vote for the ruling party candidate.

In this way, the combined strength of the PML-N comes to 48 in a House of 104. PML-N is short of five Senators to elect its chairman in the Upper House.

These five votes may either come from the MQM or the independents from FATA.

MQM has five Senators in the Upper House, but it is yet to be seen which party candidate it would be supporting for.

PTI with 12 Senators stands no chance of electing its chairman.

However, its support may prove decisive in the election. But Khan’s party is less likely to support the candidates of the PPP and the PML-N. As the things stand at the moment, the PTI leadership is considering fielding its own candidate, who could be Anwarul Haq Kakar, an independently elected Senator from Balochistan.

Jamaat-e-Islami and ANP with one Senator each in the new House have not shown their cards as yet. As for the ANP is concerned, it may either go with the PPP or the PML-N. It will also be a tough decision for the JI to vote for either of the two parties. Also, its chances of voting for a PTI candidate are bleak in the election.

 

 

Independents, Muttahida hold the key