A senator casts his ballot during the election on Friday. DawnNewsTV
As the counting of ballot papers started for the Senate chairman election on Friday, a controversy erupted when seven votes apparently cast in favour of the Pakistan Democratic Movement s (PDM) joint candidate, Yousuf Raza Gilani, were rejected.
According to official results announced by the presiding officer, the PTI-backed candidate, Sadiq Sanjrani, received 48 votes, while Gilani obtained 42 votes. A total of 98 senators voted in the election.
If the seven rejected votes were added to Gilani s tally, his total would have amounted to 49 – one more than Sanjrani s.
Presiding officer Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah said the seven votes were rejected because Gilani s name had been stamped on, which he ruled was against the instructions. An eighth vote was rejected because the senator concerned had stamped in front of the names of both candidates.
A spontaneous exchange between PTI's Fawad Chaudhry and PPP's Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar over social media was witnessed after opposition lawmakers claimed to have found 'spy cameras' before today's polls for the position of Senate chair and deputy chair