Gilani scores Senate poll upset, forces PM to go for trust vote.

Byline: Iftikhar A. Khan

ISLAMABAD -- Hours after the ruling coalition's candidate Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh suffered defeat at the hands of opposition's Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani in a major upset during the Senate elections on Wednesday, the government announced that Prime Minister Imran Khan would seek a vote of confidence afresh from the National Assembly.

When contacted, federal Minister for Information Shibli Faraz said that the prime minister would seek vote of confidence from the assembly during its ongoing session.

The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, however, clinched the reserved seat of Senate for women from Islamabad. Its candidate Fouzia Arshad secured 174 votes while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's Farzana Kausar got 161 votes. Five votes were rejected.

Rejected votes played a significant role in the upset with Mr Gilani securing 169 votes as against 164 bagged by Mr Shaikh, as the number of rejected votes exceeded the margin of victory.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi along with Minister for Special Initiatives Asad Umar after the vote count addressed a press conference to announce that Prime Minister Imran Khan had decided to get a fresh vote of confidence from the National Assembly. Mr Qureshi hoped that the exercise would expose those who had 'betrayed' the party in the Senate polls.

One of the ballots that got wasted had been issued to chairman of the parliamentary committee on Kashmir Shaheryar Afridi. The Kashmir committee chairman, according to sources, had signed his ballot paper, but realised his mistake only after putting the paper into ballot box. When he requested for the issuance of another ballot paper to him, the request was declined. Mr Afridi mentioned he had been ill for the past few days and was unable to attend party meetings held for the polls' preparation. He alleged the ECP staff had failed to guide him properly when he arrived at the venue to cast his vote.

Ex-president Asif Ali Zardari also destroyed his vote, but he was wise enough to get a new one instead of putting it in the ballot box.

PM's vote?

While it remains a mystery as to who were the six others whose ballots had been rejected, polling agent for the opposition's Pakistan Democratic Movement Syed Naveed Qamar claimed that they included the votes of Prime Minister Imran Khan and Minister for Climate Change Zartaj Gul.

Talking to Dawn,Mr Qamar said some PTI lawmakers told him that Mr Khan had ticked the box instead of...