India to ensure Pak doesn’t win IPU poll

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 30

India will be maneuvering to ensure that Pakistan does not win the elections to the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) that will take place in a virtual session during the meeting of its governing council from November 1 to 4.

The candidates for the election of the new IPU president through a remote electronic secret ballot include Muhammad Sanjrani (Pakistan), Akmal Saidov (Uzbekistan), Salma Ataullahjan (Canada) and Duarte Pacheco (Portugal). But for the Uzbek nominee, the others are formidable public figures in their own right.

Sanjrani is the chairman of the Pakistan senate and has headed the international affairs committee. This means that as per protocol, he has interacted with all major figures who have visited Pakistan. Ataullahjan is a candidate reluctantly put up by the liberal Ottawa government, for she belongs to the conservative camp but has had long innings in public life. Pacheo is well versed with the politics in the IPU, Geneva, and has in the past headed the “12 plus geopolitical group” of the IPU. The term of the new president of the IPU will be from 2020-23.

From India, a delegation led by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Poonamben Hematbhai Maadam (BJP, Lok Sabha) and Swapan Dasgupta (nominated in Rajya Sabha) will participate in the virtual session and cast their votes. The session will also be attended by the Secretary General, Lok Sabha, Snehlata Shrivastava and Secretary General, Rajya Sabha, Desh Deepak Verma.