Opposition-backed Sanjrani elected Senate chairman

ISLAMABAD: Opposition-backed candidate Sadiq Sanjrani on Monday was elected Senate chairman with 57 out of 103 votes. 
His opponent was Raja Zafarul Haq, backed by the Pakistan Muslim League — Nawaz (PML-N), who acquired 46 votes.
Sanjrani, an independent candidate from Chaghi, Balochistan, was backed by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement — Pakistan (MQM-P).
Born in April 1978, he received his primary education at Nok Kundi, and later pursued a master’s degree in arts at Balochistan University.
The eldest of five brothers, in 1998 Sanjrani was appointed as then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s coordinator. 
After Yousaf Raza Gillani took over as premier in 2008, he appointed Sanjrani to head the newly formed Prime Minister’s Complaint Cell. Sanjrani’s father is a tribal leader and member of Chagai’s District Council.
Sanjrani was sworn into office on Tuesday as Senate chairman, and took the oath in the presence of the presiding officer, Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan Nasir. PPP-supported candidate Saleem Mandviwalla was elected deputy chairman of the Senate.