PPP-backed Sadiq Sanjrani elected Senate Chairman

Sadiq Sanjrani the opposition-backed candidate from Balochistan was appointed Senate chairman on Monday. Sanjrani who secured 57 out of a possible 103 votes was administered oath by presiding officer Sardar Yaqub Khan. 

Sanjrani an independent had been backed by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P). According to reports, Sanjrani also had the support of independent senators elected from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)

He was contesting for the post against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) candidate Raja Zafarul Haq who was backed by the National Party (NP), Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), PML-Functional and Awami National Party.

The election for deputy chairman is now taking place between government-backed Usman Khan Kakar from PkMAP and PPPs Saleem Mandviwalla.

Despite backing Sanjrani, the MQM-P had announced that it would not vote for Mandviwalla.

Earlier on Monday, 51 newly-elected Senators took oath by presiding officer Senator Sardar Yaqub Khan when the Senate session began a little after 10am. Ishaq Dar could not take oath as he is in London on medical grounds.

Who is Sadiq Sanjrani?
Sanjrani was born on April 14, 1978 in Balochistan’s Nok Kundi town in Chagai district.

The senator received his primary education from Nok Kundi and later attended the Balochistan University from where he obtained his Master’s degree in Arts.

Sanjrani’s father, Khan Mohammad Asif Sanjrani, is a tribal leader and a member of Chagai’s District Council.

The senator is the eldest of five brothers.

His brother Aijaz Sanjrani was the adviser to the revenue department in this government in the tenure of Sanaullah Zehri as chief minister. He continued to serve on the position after the incumbent chief minister took office.

Another brother of the senator, Muhammad Razik Sanjrani, has served as the managing director of the Saindak Copper Gold Project.

In 1998, Sanjrani was appointed as the then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s coordinator.

Yousaf Raza Gilani, after taking over as prime minister in 2008, appointed the senator as the head of the newly-formed Prime Minister’s Complaint Cell at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat. He served as the head of the complaint cell for five years.

Sanjrani contested and won the Senate elections held earlier this month, on March 3, as an independent candidate.