Amid protests by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and Saidal Nasir Khan, the deputy chairman of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), were elected as the Senate's chairman and deputy chairman on Tuesday "unopposed."
For the valued Senate positions, no candidates filed nomination papers to challenge them.
41 recently elected senators took the oath of office earlier today amid protests on the house floor by PTI lawmakers, who called the election of the chairman and deputy chairman "unconstitutional" since it was taking place in an "incomplete house."
The parliament was called into session by President Asif Ali Zardari to take an oath of office for newly elected members and to elect the Senate's chairman and deputy chairman today.
Senator Ishaq Dar presided over the session today, and PTI members protested and demanded that the house be adjourned until senators from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were elected.
Speaking on the floor of the house, PTI leader Senator Ali Zafar asked that the Senate election be postponed because the "process would be unconstitutional till the house is complete" and because Article 59 of the Constitution needs 96 members to be present in the house in order to pick the body's chairman.
He emphasized, "Until the senators from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are duly elected and present here, we will not accept this illegal election."
Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeem Tarar emphasized in response to the opposition members' concerns that Article 60 of the Constitution calls for elections for the Senate chairman and deputy chairman positions as soon as these key positions become vacant.
The law minister expressed regret for the reasons behind the Senate elections' postponement in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), but said that there was no natural disaster to blame.
"For constitutional purposes, the House is complete," he said in closing.
Additionally, he held the PTI accountable for putting up barriers to the KP senatorial election, which led to the ECP delaying the polls.
Ishaq Dar rendered his decision after the minister provided a legal justification.
"In the light of the explanation given by the worth-law minister, with reference to the provisions of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the objection is overruled."