Imran endorses Senate chairman Sanjrani for a second term

Prime Minister Imran Khan has endorsed Sadiq Sanjrani, incumbent Senate chairman, for a second term at the top Senate post, Minister for Information Shibli Faraz announced on Thursday.

“Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced Sadiq Sanjrani for Senate Chairmanship,” tweeted Faraz.

In 2018, Sanjrani, then a little-known politician from Balochistan and backed by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), beat Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Raja Zafarul Haq to become chairman of the upper house.

In 2019, he survived an unexpected no-confidence vote proposed by the joint opposition alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), which holds a majority in the 104-member House.

Political pundits claim many party members did not wish to see Sanjrani again as Senate chairman and wanted the party leadership to nominate an ideological party activist or member for the slot.

Many also believe if the PTI did not back Sanjrani, it would have run the risk of annoying the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), which is now the fourth largest party in the Senate and second-largest party after the PTI in the ruling coalition.

The announcement comes a day after Minister of Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh lost his bid for a Senate seat from Islamabad to former prime minister and PPP leader Yousaf Raza Gillani, a joint candidate of the 11party PDM, in a hotly-contested election.

Gillani secured 169 out of 340 votes against Sheikh’s 164 votes. While the PTI won the highest number of seats, becoming the single-majority party in a hung upper house, Shaikh’s defeat served as a setback, prompting Prime Minister Imran to go for a confidence vote from the National Assembly (NA).