ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) stalwart Dr Shahzad Waseem has stepped down as Leader of the House— and assumed the role of Opposition Leader in Senate—days after his party lost majority in National Assembly that allowed Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) to come into power.

Waseem took over as Senate’s Leader of the House in June 2020, replacing PTI’s Shibli Faraz who was appointed as Information Minister in the government of former prime minister Imran Khan. Faraz was the former government’s first Leader of the House in Senate after it came into power in August 2018.

“I feel honoured on assuming the portfolio of Leader of the Opposition in Senate. Grateful for the trust and confidence reposed in me by @ImranKhanPTI. Will do my best to meet party’s expectations and carry forward the vision of my leader Imran Khan,” Waseem tweeted on Wednesday.

He has replaced Yousuf Raza Gillani from Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) as Senate’s Opposition Leader.

The new leader of the house is to be appointed by Shehbaz Sharif, the new PM.

Rule 2 (1) of the Rules of Procedures and Conduct of Business in the Senate 2012 defines Senate’s leader of the house as “prime minister or a member appointed by him to represent government and regulate government business in the Senate when the prime minister is not sitting in the house.”

Rule 16 (3) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate 2012 deals with the appointment of opposition leader.

It reads, “The chairman shall declare a member as leader of the opposition having the support of majority of the members in opposition: Provided that if two or more members have equal support for the office of leader of the opposition, the member belonging to the party having largest numerical strength in the opposition to the government, shall be declared by the chairman, as leader of the opposition in the Senate.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022