Soomro enjoyed the support of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League and allied parties in the Senate. Dr Khalid Ranjha conducted the proceedings as Presiding Officer. One vote was declared invalid out of total 98 votes polled for the election of the Senate Chairman.
Two members, Ishaq Dar and Asfandyar Wali could not cast their votes for being absent from the House till the culmination of the voting process Sindh Chief Minister, Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Balochistan Chief Minister, Jam Muhammad Yusuf, former Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and former Senators and members National Assembly witnessed the process from visitors galleries.
The polling process completed by 1600 hours in the evening and within next half an hour the smooth counting process culminated and Presiding Officer Dr Khalid Ranjha announced the result.
Name of Muhammadmian Soomro was proposed by Senators Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry, Pari Gul Agha, Bibi Yasmeen Shah, Ahmed Ali, Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli, Hamidullah Jan Afridi, Waseem Sajjad and Mushahid Hussain Sayed.
Name of the other contestant, Senator Abdur Rahim Mandokhel was proposed by Maulana Gul Naseeb, Professor Khursheed Ahmed and Sardar Mehtab Ahmed.
Earlier, 1200 hours was the time set for filing of nomination papers and scrutiny process completed till 1400 hours.
The House met again at 1500 hours after it was adjourned earlier after the new members had taken oath and signed the roll for the members.
Soon after the results were announced the Chairman took oath of the Office and took the Chair to conduct the election for Deputy Chairman Senate.
Newly elected Deputy Chairman Senate, Jan Muhammad Khan Jamali took oath of office here in the Parliament House.
Chairman Senate, Muhammadmian Soomro administered the oath. Jamali secured 59 votes while his opponent, opposition's candidate, Professor Sajid Mir got 39 votes. He has been elected as Deputy Chairman Senate for three years term. Out of the 50 newly elected Senators, 49 took oath of their office on Sunday during a special session of the Upper House of the Parliament.
Presiding Officer Khalid Ranjha, administered the oath from the newly elected senators. PML (N)'s Muhammad Ishaq Dar, who is abroad, did not take oath. The elected senators signed the roll of members.
FOLLOWING ARE THE NAMES OF SENATORS WHO TOOK THE OATH:
Wasim Sajjad, Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi, Dr Abdul Khaliq Pirzada, Dr Abdul Maalik Abul Razzaq Thaheem, Abdul Razzaq, Abdul Rahim Khan Mandokhel, Abdul Rasheed, Nadia Zia, Ahmed Ali, Ammar Amjad Khan, Fouzia Fakhr Zaman, Maulana Gul Nasib, Gulshan Saeed, Haroon Akhtar Khan, Ilyas Ahmed Bilour, Israrullah Khan, Jan Muhammad Jamali, Dr Javed Leghari, Syed Javed Ali Shah, Javed Ashraf Qazi, Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro, Professor Khursheed Ahmed, Mir Mohabbat Khan Mari, Sardar Muhammad Jamal Khan Leghari, Muhmmad Ali Durrani, Muhammad Azam Khan Swati, Muhammad Ghufran Khan, Professor Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, Dr Muhammad Ismail Khan, Maulana Muhammad Saleh Shah, Muhammad Talha Mehmood, Naeem Hussain Chattha, Nilofar Bakhtiar, Rehmatullah Khan Advocate, Hafiz Rasheed Ahmed, Miss Ratna, Mian Raza Rabbani, Rehana Yahya Baloch, Sabina Rauf, Saeed Ahmed Hashmi, Dr Safdar Abbasi, Salim Saifullah Khan, Seemeen Siddiqui, Shahid Hassan Bugti, Syed Tahir Hussain Mashahdi, Tariq Azeem Khan, S.M Zafar and Dr Zaheeruddin Babar Awan.
The Senate chairman welcomed all the returned and newly elected members of the upper house.
In his remarks, he thanked members for actively participating in the election process of chairman and deputy chairman and said it is a vivid and clear message of the commitment level of the august house.
Deputy chairman Jan Muhammad Khan Jamali also thanked members who voted for him and assured the house that he would fulfil his responsibilities to uphold the dignity of the house.
Leader of the house, Wasim Sajjad congratulated the chairman and the deputy chairman for their election.
He said victory and defeat is part of politics and we all should run the house in a positive manner according to the rules and regulations.
Members from both the sides also spoke on the occasion and congratulated the chairman and deputy chairman for their election. They appreciated the smooth holding of election.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz assured the Senate that he will do his utmost to serve the cause of democracy, Pakistan and the Muslim Ummah.
Speaking in the upper house after completion of election of Senate chairman and deputy chairman, the Prime Minister said with this successful election we have completed yet another landmark day toward democratic process.
Shaukat Aziz congratulated Muhammadmian Soomro for his overwhelming victory as the Senate chairman for yet another term. He said this is a clear manifestation of his successfully conducting the proceedings of the house.
He also congratulated newly elected Senate deputy chairman Jan Muhammad Khan Jamali and said he is an experienced parliamentarian. He hoped in his role as deputy chairman, he will conduct proceedings of the house at the level of what is required and use his experience for the benefit of everybody.
The Prime Minister said it is significant that in this august house, which is an indication and manifestation of the federation of Pakistan and where all provinces have equal representation.
We have deputy chairman from Balochistan. Balochistan, he said, is an important province of the country and hoped that his election will help create more national unity.
He congratulated all members including opposition for actively participating in the election process. He said the opposition is an equal stakeholder of the democratic system and said we value the input, comments and criticism of the opposition that keeps the government at its toes. Former leader of the house in Senate Wasim Sajjad was re-nominated by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz as leader of the house in the upper house.
Speaking in the upper house, the Prime Minister said with this successful election we have completed yet another landmark day toward democratic process. The Prime Minister appointed Wasim Sajjad as leader of the house in the Senate. He said Wasim Sajjad played very important role in the conduct of the house. Later in his remarks, Wasim Sajjad thanked the Prime Minister for nominating him as leader of the house.