Kingmakers Zardari-Tareen Turn Up Before Senate Elections

The elections in Pakistan have always been influenced by the kingmakers and despite the vehement demand by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of holding the Senate elections through the open ballot, the party has allegedly fixed its relationship with Jahangir Tareen while Zardari is also pulling the strings backdoors.

Jahangir Tareen factor is undeniable for the ruling party as he dived in with his influence after the 2018 general elections and subsumed independent candidates to help PTI form its government in Punjab.

The business magnate flew to Faisalabad where he was welcomed by PTI MNA Raja Riaz.

Riaz is among the PTI leaders who had urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to appoint Tareen as the head of the committee on Senate elections. He considered Tareen’s role important in securing the proportionate seats in the upper house of the Parliament.

Jahangir Tareen had distanced himself from political activities after he was named as one of the perpetrators in the infamous sugar scandal in 2020.

However, as the Senate elections are approaching, the ruling party is showing its cards to secure the maximum number of seats in the upper house.

On the other hand, while addressing a rally in Karachi, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that they were ready for the Senate elections through open or secret balloting. He claimed that PPP would get the majority in the upper house.

The role of PPP co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari cannot be ruled out especially during the current political climate in Pakistan. He is known as a ‘kingmaker’.

PPP leaders have claimed on several instances that several PTI lawmakers of Sindh were ready to vote for them in the Senate polls.

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He was considered to be the man who engineered Sadiq Sanjrani’s victory as Senate Chairman in 2018.

The Senate elections are going to be more of a pitched-battle battle between kingmakers Jahangir Tareen and former president Asif Ali Zardari.

The influence they hold and how they channel it would certainly determine the position of their parties in the upper house.