A session of the Senate was convened on Tuesday, where the newly elected Senators took oath as members of the House amid a boycott by the PTI.
Almost a month ago, the Upper House of the Parliament became dysfunctional following the retirement of half of its members. Early this month, an election took place in Islamabad, Punjab and Sindh, but not in PTI-ruled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — where Senate polls were delayed due to an ongoing controversy over the oath-taking of opposition lawmakers on reserved seats in the provincial Assembly. Nonetheless, the ruling coalition in the centre, led by the PML-N, swept the election. After the elections, the coalition controls 59 of the 85 seats at present.
At the outset of the session, Senate Secretary Qasim Samad Khan announced that the newly elected senators would take their oath of office.
He then said that the session would resume “in the afternoon” to elect the chairman and the deputy chairman.
As announced earlier, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who had won on a technocrat seat from Islamabad on April 2, is the presiding officer for the first session of the Senate.
Speaking on the floor of the House, PTI Senator Ali Zafar called for the session to be postponed till Senate elections were held in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He further said that the PTI would not take part in the Senate elections till then.