PTI appoints new parliamentary leader and chief whip in Senate

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill on Tuesday took to Twitter and announced that the premier has decided to appoint two new members in the Senate.

Per the decision, Senator Fida Mohammad has been appointed as the  PTI's chief whip in the Senate, while Senator Ejaz Chaudhary will be the new Parliamentary Leader of the PTI in the Senate, Gill wrote.

As reported by Geo.tv, Senator Fida Mohammad was preceded by Sajjad Turi, who is not a senator anymore. 

A few days earlier, Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani had notified Senator Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani as Leader of the Opposition in the Upper House after the PPP nominated him for the slot with the support of 30 lawmakers.

Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani had secured the support of 30 Opposition senators for the prized post which had been a matter of contention between the PML-N and the PPP.

Talking to the media after submitting the request, Senator Sherry Rehman said the PPP's request has the signatures of 21 senators from the party, two from the ANP, one from the Jamat-e-Islami, two from erstwhile Fata and four members of the upper house from Dilawar Khan's independent group.

The development comes after PTI scored a major victory in the Senate as it was able to get its chairman and deputy chairman elected in the Upper House of the Parliament.

Sadiq Sanjrani and Mirza Mohammad Afridi emerged victorious in March 12 elections.

In the race for chairman, Sadiq Sanjrani defeated Opposition candidate Yousaf Raza Gillani with 49 votes, while Gillani received 42 votes.

Similarly, government candidate Mirza Mohammad Afridi won the election for the deputy chairman of the Senate with 54 votes, defeating Opposition's Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, who grabbed 44 votes.