PPP’s Yusuf Raza Gilani submits nomination papers for Senate opposition leader post

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) submitted on Friday nomination papers of Yusuf Raza Gilani for the post of opposition leader in the Senate.

The deadline for Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani to nominate someone as the opposition leader in the Senate will expire tomorrow. The papers were submitted to Senate Chairman Sanjrani by Gilani today who was accompanied by PPP Senator Sherry Rehman. The nomination papers were submitted with signatures from a total of 30 senators.

These included 21 from the PPP, two from the Awami National Party, one from the Jamaat-i-Islami, two from members belonging to Fata and four from the independent group of Dilawar Khan.

Both the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz and PPP have publicly claimed their right to the key office. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari insists that since his party enjoys a majority in the Senate, the party has a right to nominate the leader of the opposition.

Meanwhile, PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz contended that the leader of the opposition in the Senate would be from her party as this was already agreed upon by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leadership. PML-N has already submitted an application to the Senate Secretariat, nominating Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar, DAWN reported.