Sadiq Sanjrani — the newly appointed Senate chairman

Mir Sadiq Sanjrani was elected the new Senate chairman on Monday after securing 57 votes. 

He was nominated by Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo as a candidate for the coveted position of the Senate chairman. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have rallied behind the nomination. 

Sanjrani was born on April 14, 1978 in Balochistan's Nok Kundi town in Chagai district.   

The senator received his primary education from Nok Kundi and later attended the Balochistan University from where he obtained his Master's degree in Arts. 

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Sanjrani's father, Khan Mohammad Asif Sanjrani, is a tribal leader and a member of Chagai's District Council. 

The senator is the eldest of five brothers. 

His brother Aijaz Sanjrani was the adviser to the revenue department in this government in the tenure of Sanaullah Zehri as chief minister. He continued to serve on the position after the incumbent chief minister took office. 

Another brother of the senator, Muhammad Razik Sanjrani, has served as the managing director of the Saindak Copper Gold Project.

In 1998, Sanjrani was appointed as the then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif's coordinator. 

Yousaf Raza Gilani, after taking over as prime minister in 2008, appointed the senator as the head of the newly-formed Prime Minister's Complaint Cell at the Prime Minister's Secretariat. He served as the head of the complaint cell for five years.

Sanjrani contested and won the Senate elections held earlier this month, on March 3, as an independent candidate.

In his first press conference as an elected senator with Chief Minister Bizenjo, Sanjrani had expressed his wish to witness the appointment of a senator from his province as the chairman of the Upper House of Parliament.