Analysts and journalists on Thursday sharply reacted with surprise to Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani's shock survival of the no-confidence motion against him, terming it an "upset" for the opposition that had been confident of a victory, and a win for the PTI-led government and its allies. Bilawal Bhutto who waking making tall claims and asking Sanjrani to resign or face the removal is 'perhaps' ashamed
The opposition has a total of 67 members in the Senate. From the 64 opposition senators who partook in the no-trust vote, the opposition only needed 53 senators' votes to send Sanjrani packing. Instead, the opposition fell three short when the results of the secret ballot were announced.
The final vote count was 50 votes in favour of the motion, five votes rejected, and 45 cast against. Having falling short of a simple majority of the house, the motion was dismissed.
"Hugely embarrassing loss for the combined opposition as they fail to oust the Chairman Senate despite a clear majority in the house," tweeted journalist Gibran Peshimam.
He said Sanjrani surviving the no-confidence motion, the first such move against a Senate chairman in Pakistan's history, was a "big win for the government, which was confident from the moment this move surfaced."Ali Salman Alvi, a columnist and broadcast journalist, termed the development a "big blow for the opposition"."It's a huge upset from the upper house! #Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani survives no-confidence motion," he said in a tweet.
Dawn journalist Atika Rehman observed on Twitter that the motion to remove Sanjrani was the joint opposition parties’ "first tangible move" against the PTI government, in which they failed.
"What’s next? And will it stick?" she wrote.
Saying the defeat was "huge and embarrassing" for the opposition, Journalist Hasan Zaidi noted with irony that while 67 of the opposition senators had turned up for a dinner ahead of the no-confidence vote, "only 50 voted" in support of the motion.
There was celebration in the government camp while allegations of foul play emerged from the opposition side.
"Mubarak Sadiq Sanjrani. Mubarak Pakistan," tweeted PTI senior leader Jahangir Tareen.Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari also congratulated Sanjrani, noting that the resolution for his removal had been "defeated by a big margin!".
PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz, arguably one of the most vocal figures in the opposition, termed the failure of the no-trust motion a "broad daylight robbery".
"The ones with 65 votes (the opposition) lost. The ones with 36 votes won. Pakistanis, do you understand the 2018 election now?" she tweeted.
The no-trust motion against Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani was rejected as the required number of votes were not polled in its favour.
The resolution received only 50 votes despite the fact that 64 senators had supported it to be tabled in the house. At least 53 votes were needed for the motion to be approved.
Earlier, the session began with Senator Muhammad Ali Khan Saif in the chair as presiding officer.
As the session began, the chair asked Leader of the Opposition Raja Zafar-ul-Haq to table the motion and later asked members, who are in the favour of the resolution, to rise in the chair.
Saif explained the process of voting. Hafiz Abdul Kareem was the first one to cast his ballot in secret balloting.
Earlier in the day, Leader of the House Senator Shibli Faraz, chaired a meeting of the Senators belonging to the government and allied parties at the Khyber Paktunkhwa House in Islamabad before the voting on no-confidence motion submitted by 44 opposition lawmakers last month.
The opposition parties had nominated Hasil Bizenjo as their candidate for the post of Chairman Senate.
Sadiq Sanjrani had insisted that he had the support of majority members and Prime Minister Imran Khan has also announced full support to the Senate chairman to save him from the no-confidence vote.
On the other hand, the opposition had advised Sadiq Sanjrani to resign before the no-confidence vote.
Party Position
Opposition (67 members)
PML-N: 30
PPP: 21
NP: 5
PkMAP: 4
JUI-F: 4
JIP: 2 (The party will abstain from voting)
ANP: 1
Ruling alliance (36 members)
PTI: 14
BAP: 8
Ex-FATA: 7
MQM-P: 5
PML-5: 1
BNP-M: 1
