Senate upset.

THE Senate election results have delivered a stunning blow to the PTI. While the ruling party has seen an increase in its overall Senate numbers, the control of the upper house remains with the opposition parties - a development which is viewed by many as a much-needed victory for the PDM. The key Islamabad seat, which saw a battle between the PPP's Yousuf Raza Gilani and Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, has been the defining moment of this election with significant symbolic and practical consequences. With 169 votes, Mr Gilani defeated Mr Sheikh who got 164 votes - a shortfall that not only has shaken the PTI's confidence but which also warrants introspection within the party.

Predictably, elements in the government have already started the conversation about Mr Gilani's disqualification, based on the leak of a controversial video which shows his son Ali Haider Gilani instructing someone on how to waste a Senate vote. Though the video is a dramatic last-minute twist to the Senate election saga, it is very much in keeping with the season of horse-trading, vote-buying, threats and engineering that haunt every upper house poll - a continuation of an unsavoury tradition that favours personal gain over party stance. While there may be some truth to the allegations of horse-trading in the Gilani-Sheikh upset, the unscrupulous deal-making on Senate seats is not something restricted to any one party.

The PTI must seriously reflect on how a seat Prime Minister Imran Khan himself was so...