A newly-elected woman senator of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), who is in Iddat after the recent death of her husband, is going to attend Friday’s Senate session in which she will take the oath and also cast her vote in elections for the chairman and the deputy chairman, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Thursday.

Khalida Ateeb has decided to attend the Senate session in Iddat after consulting the ulema.

In Islamic practice, Iddat is a four-month period of mourning that a woman observes after the death of her husband.

The circumstances of the newly-elected senator of the MQM-P, an ally of the PTI-led ruling coalition, have made her vote crucial for the election of the Senate chairman, a post for which the PTI government has fielded Sadiq Sanjrani and Yousaf Raza Gillani has been nominated by the Opposition parties.

Khalida Ateeb will leave Karachi for Islamabad early Friday to attend the Senate session, after which she will not attend any other session until her iddat period is over.