All seven senators who put stamp on the name of Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani during voting in the election for Senate chairman’s office have been identified, sources say. 

According to sources, the mystery surrounding rejection of seven votes cast in favour of Gilani, joint candidate of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), has been cleared now. All the senators who put stamp on PDM candidate Gilani’s name have now come forward and informed the party leadership why they put stamp on the name of the candidate. A report in this regard has been submitted to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari. 

Citing the report, sources said all these senators asked the election staff about the voting procedure and they were told to put stamp on the name of the candidate of their choice inside the box. These senators told the PPP leadership that there was no mala fide intention behind their decision to put stamp on the name of the candidate of their choice. The report says that all members of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) too voted for Gilani. 

Bilawal has said the PDM was robbed of its votes in the Senate election. He said this robbery of votes was an attempt to split the PDM, but this attempt was foiled. He said this case would be taken up on every forum. 

In a related development, Gilani called on former president Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in Islamabad on Saturday. They discussed the pros and cons of cancellation of seven votes during the Senate election. They decided at the meeting that cancellation of votes would be challenged in the Islamabad High Court on Monday. A legal team consisting of Farooq H. Naik, Nayyar Bukhari and Sardar Lateef Khosa was also formed to deal with this issue.