WATCH: Bilawal’s tit-for-tat response to Talal’s ‘neutral’ jibe

Reacting to PML-N leader Talal Chaudhry’s tweet in which he taunted Bilawal for lauding “neutrality” of state institutions ahead of Senate polls, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday said at least he was not indulging in any ‘tanzeem saazi’ – a term coined by PM Imran Khan after the PML-N leader was allegedly beaten by brothers of a female lawmaker outside her home last year.

In October 2020, Talal Chaudhry was hospitalised after being injured in an incident shrouded in mystery. PTI’s Shahbaz Gill had accused the PML-N leader for harassing a female MNA belonging to his own party in Faisalabad.

“Talal sahib... what was that... oh yes, tanzeem saazi! (reorganisation)…. No, we are not doing any tanzeem saazi here. We are waging a struggle for democracy,” Bilawal said during a press conference in Islamabad when asked by a reporter regarding Talal’s taunt aimed at him.

The PML-N leader had asked the PPP chairman in tweet if he enjoyed the role of "neutral" following the joint opposition candidate Yousuf Raza Gilani’s defeat at the hands of the ruling coalition’s candidate Sadiq Sanjrani in today’s election for the post of Senate chairman.

“I have been fighting for democracy for three generations. Neutrality cannot be achieved overnight, it demands one to face hard times in jail and even face death,” the PPP chief maintained.

Bilawal said that PDM's struggle is to make every institution neutral and allow them to work within their jurisdiction which is not the case at the moment.

Read more: PML-N’s Talal Chaudhry brutally beaten, in hospital

He said that Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is operating in a neutral way but they wanted all state institutions to work with neutrality. "No one hands over neutrality to you in plate. You have to fight for it."

98 senators from the upper house exercised their right to vote in today's election. Sanjrani, the PTI-backed candidate, received 48 votes while his opponent Gilani could only manage 42. Seven votes were rejected.

The votes were rejected by the presiding officer, Syed Muzafar Hussain Shah, as the ballot papers were stamped on the candidate's name instead of the box next to it.