- Yousaf Raza Gilani regains Senate seat from Islamabad with 204 votes
- ECP issues schedule for elections to 48 Senate seats on April 2
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) grabbed four out of six Senate seats during by-elections held here on Thursday.
In the National Assembly hall, polling was held on one vacant seat of the Senate from Islamabad.
PPP candidate Yousaf Raza Gilani was declared winner with 204 votes, while Sunni Ittehad Council’s candidate Chaudhary Ilyas Mehrban remained runner-up with 88 votes.
In Sindh Assembly, PPP candidates Jam Saifullah Dharijo and Aslam Abro were declared winners with 58 and 57 votes, respectively. SIC’s Nazirullah and Shazia Sohail secured 4 votes each. A total of 124 Sindh MPAs, including 116 of PPP and eight of SIC took part in the polling.
Both the seats had fallen vacant due to the resignation of Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and Jam Mehtab Dahar of the Pakistan People’s Party.
In Balochistan, Pakistan People’s Party’s Mir Abdul Qudus Bizenjo was declared winner with 23 votes, while JUI-F’s Abdul Shakoor Khan Ghaibai and PML-N’s Mir Dostain Domki were also declared the winners on the Senate’s vacant seats.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) decided to stay away from the Senate by-elections, while Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) also boycotted the process.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) found itself on the sidelines, once again grappling with the loss of its electoral symbol in the parliamentary realm.
As per the dictates of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), only parties with electoral symbols are eligible to partake in the Senate polls, adhering to the same rules governing general elections.
Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had declared that a poll will be held on April 2 to fill 48 vacant seats in the Senate.
‘Schedule for elections on 48 vacant seats of the Senate’
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday issued schedule for elections on forty-eight vacant seats of the Senate.
According to the schedule, polling will be held on the second of next month (April) from 9am to 4pm. The candidates can file their nomination papers with the returning officers from Friday (tomorrow) till Saturday.
Whereas March 19, has been fixed for the scrutiny of nomination papers. A revised list of the candidates will be issued on the March 26 whilst the candidates can withdraw their nomination papers by the 27th of this month.
In the federal capital, members of the National Assembly will elect members of the Senate against one general seat and one seat for technocrats including Ulema.
Members of the four provincial assemblies will elect Senators for seven general seats, two women seats, and two seats for technocrats including Ulema from each province, as well as one seat for non-Muslims from both Punjab and Sindh provinces.
These seats became vacant after expiration of the term of the incumbent members on the 11th of this month.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced that polling for 48 Senate seats will be held on the second of the next month (April).
The electoral watchdog said that election will not be carried out on four seats reserved for the erstwhile tribal areas. “These seats have been abolished after the merger of tribal areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) under the 25th Amendment of the Constitution,” read the statement.
According to the ECP, the Senate polls will be carried out on seven general seats, two women seats, two technocrat seats and one minority seat in Punjab.
It added that the elections will be contested on 12 seats in Sindh as well in the aforementioned denomination while in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, the polls will only be carried out on 11 seats.
PTI announces names of party candidates from Punjab
Meanwhile, Senior Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Mian Aslam Iqbal, after consultations with the party’s high command, on Thursday announced the names of the party candidates from Punjab for the upcoming Senate elections.
The PTI has given tickets to a party stalwart, Hamid Khan, who is also a senior lawyer, and Zulfi Bukhari, another party loyalist, for general seats, while it has nominated Colonel (r) Ijaz Minhas as its covering candidate for these seats.
Similarly, the party has fielded former adviser on accountability Brigadier (r) Musaddiq as its candidate for a technocrat seat.
Likewise, Dr Yasmin Rashid, who is currently incarcerated in connection with the incidents of May 9 violence, has been named as the party’s candidate on a woman’s seat.
