Seven lawmakers who caused Senate upset?

ISLAMABAD: Ever since polling in the Senate chairman election ended Friday, one of the most asked questions everywhere in Pakistan is: who were the seven lawmakers whose votes led to the victory of Sadiq Sanjrani and Mirza Muhammad Afridi — fielded by the ruling PTI?

So who were those seven mysterious senators who discreetly withdrew their support? According to the available data and calculations, there were 51 members of the opposition in the Senate, yet the PPP’s Yusuf Raza Gilani somehow got 42 votes only.

In total, seven votes were rejected following the Senate chairman election. The number of members of the PTI government in the Senate is 47 but the candidate for the Senate deputy chairman post, Mirza Muhammad Afridi, got 54 votes. This shows a difference of seven votes. Again, the number of members of the opposition in the Senate was 51, but the Pakistan Democratic Movement's (PDM) candidate, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri of the JUI-F, bagged 44 votes. This, too, shows a difference of seven votes.

The question, therefore, changes to: Were these the same seven senators whose votes were rejected during the Senate chairman election? Did these seven senators deliberately have their votes rejected? Will the Opposition parties find these seven senators in its ranks?

It is interesting to note that Gilani had defeated PTI’s Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in the Senate elections as the latter’s seven votes were rejected. So the seven votes played important role in Gilanis win and loss.