Senate chief post: PPP mulling options on how to get Gilani back in Senate

ISLAMABAD: In the latest political twist, the top leadership of the PPP has decided that former prime minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani will be its nominee for the position of chairman of the Senate.

The party is now taking legal advice from its legal and political team on whether to get re-elected into the Senate in the Senate by-elections or the upcoming main Senate elections. The top leadership of the PPP is firm on its decision regarding Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani as the party’s choice for the Senate chairman.

Though the Election Commission of Pakistan has issued the schedule for the Senate by-elections on the vacant seats of the Senate for the 14th of this month but has not yet announced the schedule for the upcoming Senate elections as half of the senators will be retiring on March 11.

According to PPP insiders, a legal team of the PPP is exploring the options available to the party on how to get Gilani back in the Senate: through the by-election or the Senate election. Apparently, the majority think he should contest the upcoming Senate elections for the next six-year term.

The final decision will be taken in a day or two as the PPP’s lawyers will obtain the nomination papers for the Senate by-election on the seat that Gilani had vacated and if the top leadership gives the green signal for him to contest the by-election for Senate from Islamabad, the seat he vacated after winning the National Assembly election from NA-148, then the nomination will be filed. But this could change if the party leadership goes the route of Gilani contesting the upcoming Senate election for a six-year term.

An insider of the PPP also says that Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani is still a top PPP contender for the Senate chairman and the details have also been finalised with the PML-N. Party insiders also say that Gilani has left the decision to the PPP’s top leadership.

If Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani is elected as the Senate chairman, he will hold the unique record of having served at the top three constitutional posts in the country -- speaker of the National Assembly, prime minister of Pakistan, and chairman of the Senate.

Though Gilani had also contested the Senate chairman election in 2021 against Sadiq Sanjrani, he technically lost the election after seven of his votes were declared invalid by the then presiding officer and Senator Sadiq Sanjrani was elected as the chairman of the Senate.