Sanjrani survives no-trust motion
 

Ag APPISLAMABAD: Sadiq Sanjrani maintained his post as Senate chairman after the opposition’s bid to remove him in a no-confidence motion failed to gain traction with a razor-thin margin of three votes on Thursday.Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla, who government-backed senators tried to oust in a similar no-trust motion, also survived the vote.Just a day after a confident Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, urged Sanjrani to resign with dignity at a luncheon he hosted with more than 50 opposition senators “because tomorrow, you [Sanjrani] are going anyway”, the campaign was dead in the water.Senate opposition leader Raja Zafarul Haq had proposed the motion against Sanjrani but when the secret balloting was held, only 50 senators out of 100 present in the 104-member Upper House of Parliament backed it. To remove Sanjrani, the opposition needed 53 votes. Five of the total votes were rejected, while two senators belonging to the Jamaat-e-Islami— Mushtaq Ahmed and Sirajul Haq – abstained and another from PML-N Chaudhry Tanveer was absent. A total 103 senators were eligible to vote.The opposition, which holds a majority in the Senate, had made history by calling a no-confidence motion against a chairman. They had nominated National Party’s chief Mir Hasil Bizenjo as their candidate for the post.Senator Muhammad Ali Saif, who presided over the session, began the voting process when 64 senators approved the resolution against Sanjrani.After the Sanjrani vote, the Senate also rejected the resolution moved by the treasury benches to remove Mandviwalla, as only 32 votes were polled in favour of the move.“I am thankful for both treasury and opposition benches for voting for me,” Sanjrani told Geo News after the proceedings.Following the Senate session, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government characterised the results as the “vindication” of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s narrative. Government spokeswoman Firdous Ashiq Awan told reporters outside Parliament that the “people have won and the corrupt leadership, which does not want the Senate to keep working as per the law and Constitution, was defeated”.She added the opposition’s move “backfired as their own members revolted” and voted with their conscience. “The government stands ready to nurse the opposition’s wounds, especially in the wake of their defeat in the Senate,” she said.Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif decried the result as “damaging to democracy”. Speaking to reporters outside Parliament House, he said he believed there had been “influence and horse-trading”. Raja Zafarul Haq, who was flanking Shahbaz, said: “What happened today was sad. We know who did not vote [in favour of the no-confidence motion].” Haq added the Opposition was aware by early morning as to how many votes the motion would receive.“Mostly, people from a certain party ruined it. The forces that wished to save the Senate chairperson emerged the victors,” he added.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/com/cwEr/~4/X-xq76w7hLM

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