Gillani wins, thanks to rejected votes

ISLAMABAD – In a major setback for the ruling alliance led by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement’s joint candidate Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani Wednesday clinched the Senate seat from Islamabad as rejected votes played a key role in his victory.

Gilani pulled off the seemingly impossible win in 2021 Senate election with a margin of five votes by securing 169 votes against PTI-led ruling alliance’s candidate Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh who got 164 votes.

The rejected seven votes played a major role in the victory of the opposition candidate from the present 341-member National Assembly – the electoral college for Senate seats from Islamabad, where ruling alliance has a majority in the house with total 181 votes if two independents are counted in its side. All opposition parties have the strength of 160 members.

The seven rejected votes played a crucial role in the victory of Gilani as the margin of the votes rejected surpassed from the margin of votes of victory. A single member of the Jamaat-e-Islami Moulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali abstained from voting and thus total 340 votes were polled in the Senate election held in the NA hall.

According to the official sources of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the rejected votes were either ticked or marked with the signs of dash or the preference one had been left vacant. Only a single rejected vote polled by PTI MNA and Chairman Kashmir Committee Shehryar Afridi could be identified who himself gave an application to the returning officer that he mistakenly signed the ballot paper instead of giving a preference and he should be issued a new ballot paper to cast his vote again — an appeal that was rejected by the ECP.

But, PTI candidate Fozia Arshad clinched the Senate seat allocated for women from Islamabad by securing 174 votes against her rival PML-N candidate Farzana Kausar who got 161 votes while five votes were rejected in this contest.

Despite the rejected votes, Gilani got votes more than the strength of opposition in the National Assembly and nine votes of the ruling alliance also helped him to secure the victory.

Political analysts are of the view that Gilani being a former prime minister was a heavyweight candidate who enjoyed a big political stature than his rival candidate Shaikh who has no long association with the PTI. Shaikh is basically a technocrat. The strong connections of Gilani with the major political families of Punjab and Sindh have also worked while the efforts of all opposition parties in the PDM also yielded results who burnt a mid-night oil to ensure victory of Gilani as part of their political strategy to show that PM has lost the confidence of National Assembly. The strategy of opposition PPP, the political party of Gilani, also succeeded as former president Asif Ali Zardari has himself been campaigning for him while sitting is Islamabad during the last couple of days. Gilani himself spearheaded his election campaign by writing letters to all MNAs including PM Imran Khan to vote for him.

Soon after the victory, the opposition claimed that the members of the National Assembly (MNAs) voted  in favour of its candidate while “hearing to the voice of their conscience” while the PTI alleged it of committing horse-trading and using corrupt tactics by bribing the members to clinch this victory.