PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Saturday rubbished rumours that PML-N senators did not vote for opposition's candidate in yesterday's election for the slots of Senate chairperson and deputy chairperson.

When asked that there were reports of PML-N senators having abstained from voting for Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) nominees for the top Senate slots, Bilawal said: "Everyone showed loyalty."

"I know, we all know, that we won [Senate seats] because of PDM's unity," he said, adding that the recent Upper House polls have "washed the stain of the past Senate elections".

The opposition, despite holding a majority in the Upper House, suffered a setback yesterday, when its candidate Yousuf Raza Gilani lost to Sadiq Sanjrani by seven votes after it was announced that eight votes had been rejected. Seven of these votes were purportedly in Gilani's favour but presiding officer Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah said that they were rejected for being stamped incorrectly.

As per official results announced by the presiding officer, Gilani received 42 valid votes, while Sanjrani won the election after bagging 48 votes. In total, 98 senators voted in the election.

The opposition also lost the deputy chairperson election, with PTI-backed Senator Mirza Moha­m­mad Afridi bagging 54 votes against opposition's Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, who received 44 votes.

The opposition alliance – Pakistan Democratic Movement – had fielded former premier Gilani as its candidate for the coveted chairman position, while the government had nominated Sanjrani for a second term.

Gilani had defeated government's candidate Hafeez Shaikh on the Islamabad Senate general seat earlier this month and was a strong contender for the position of the chairperson, given the opposition's numbers.

After the Senate chairman poll concluded, the opposition termed the exercise a "joke with democracy" and announced that it would challenge the results in a court of law today. Separately, PPP Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said that the party could either challenge the result in court or bring a no-confidence motion against Sanjrani.

Senate secy not fit for job: Saeed Ghani

Separately, PPP leader Saeed Ghani said in a press conference that he, along with Farooq H. Naek and Ali Qasim Gilani, had asked the Senate secretary about the correct way of stamping the ballot papers.

"We asked him that often it happens [that] voter puts stamps on the name of the candidate — these were the exact words — so is that vote valid or invalid?" Ghani told reporters.

"The secretary said that the vote [would be] completely valid because it is inside the box."

The Sindh MPA said that during polling, a voter had come to PPP Senator Sherry Rehman with the same query and she too had confirmed from the secretary that the vote would be counted.

"When they did all this drama and [the presiding officer] was rejecting votes, Sherry Rehman again went to the secretary [...] and said to him that you told me that these votes are correct in which the name has been stamped. The secretary then says very innocently that the presiding officer has overruled me."

Ghani further alleged that the secretary was behind the installation of the "spy cameras" in the Senate hall. Yesterday, Khokhar and PML-N Senator Mussadiq Malik had posted pictures of cameras allegedly installed in the polling booths set up for the Senate polls and called for an investigation into the matter.

'Presiding officer read a script'

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said that the presiding officer had read a script given to him during the polls for the Senate chairman and deputy.

Speaking to the media, he said that whatever happened during the election was an "organised" move, adding that he was disappointed to see it all happening.

He stated that cameras were installed in the polling booth, and wondered what more could one say when such tactics were being used.

"The presiding officer said that seven votes for Gilani were rejected for not being stamped properly when he and the Senate chairman stated that the ballot should be marked inside the box," he said, adding that it was a disappointing day for democracy and Pakistan.

Shah also said that he expected the winning candidate to "realise his loss" in the election but that did not happen. He said that he had never witnessed votes being rejected in this fashion so far in his parliamentary career.

The controversy

While announcing the results, presiding officer Shah said seven votes cast purportedly in favour of Gilani were rejected because the stamp on these ballot papers was affixed on Gilani's name instead of "against his name".

Gilani's polling agent Naek contested the presiding officer's ruling, arguing that the instructions only stated that the stamp had to be placed inside the box of the preferred candidate, and did not specify on "which area of the box" the stamp had to be affixed.

On the other hand, PTI's Mohsin Aziz, the polling agent for Sanjrani, while reading out from a paper said the instructions clearly stated that the vote had to be stamped in the box in front of the preferred candidate's name, and not on top of the candidate's name.

Presiding officer Shah then stated that in his view, the instructions stated that the stamp had to be placed in front of the candidate's name. He subsequently rejected the seven votes in question and declared Sanjrani the winner.