Newly elected Senators take oath as Senate session begins

The ruling party and the opposition are all set to face-off today as the parties have gathered for the Senate session in order to elect chairman and deputy chairman, while the newly elected Senators have taken oath.

Presiding Officer Yaqoob Nasar administered the oath to the Senators, after which the Senators began signing the member rolls. Former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar did not take oath as he has been in London for medical treatment for the past few months.

According to the agenda issued by Senate Secretariat, the Senate session was scheduled to begin at 10 am. After the 52 newly elected Senators, who secured their respective seats of the upper house after elections on March 3, have taken their oath, the session will be adjourned for a few hours.

Once the session resumes in the afternoon, the 104 Senators, including the newly elected Senators, will vote for the chairman and deputy chairman. The election will be held via secret ballot. The candidates need 53 votes from the Senate members to be elected as Senate chairman and deputy chairman.

The Senate comprises 66 general seats, 17 technocrat, 17 women and four minorities' seats. Each province has 23 seats, including 14 general seats, four technocrat seats, four women seats and a non-Muslim seat. Islamabad has four seats, including two general seats, a women seat and a technocrat seat, while the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) has all eight general seats in the Senate.

The results of the recent Senate elections saw Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) emerging as the ruling party with 15 seats. The PML-N was followed by Pakistan Peoples Party  winning 12 seats.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf secured six seats, whereas Jamat-e-Islami, Muttahida Qaumi Movement - Pakistan and Pakistan Muslim League - Functional secured one seat each. National Party, Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam – Fazl secures two seats. Ten independent candidates won from Baluchistan with FATA securing four seats.