The ruling coalition on Tuesday clinched the lion’s share of 19 Senate seats, while polls were postponed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over the dispute pertaining to swearing-in opposition members elected to reserved seats.
Out of the 19 Senate seats up for grabs today, the PML-N won six seats, the PPP won 11 while the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) bagged one seat, unofficial results showed.
The PML-N’s numbers in the 96-member House have now risen to 19 while the PPP’s have risen to 24. It should be noted that the PTI has 20 members in the Senate.
In a post on X, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said, “All PML-N senators elected. Congratulations to all.”
She expressed hope that the senators would work diligently for the development of the country and the promotion of democracy.
Elections were not held in Balochistan as lawmakers had been elected unopposed on 11 vacant seats last month.
Islamabad
Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar won on a technocrat seat from Islamabad, garnering 222 votes with Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) Raja Ansar Mehmood coming in second with 81.
Meanwhile, PPP’s Rana Mehmoodul Hassan secured 224 votes to win the general seat in Islamabad while PTI’s Farzand Hussain Shah garnered 79 votes.
Punjab
In Punjab, all seven candidates vying for the general seats in Punjab were elected unopposed at the end of March. Today, polls were held on two women and technocrats seats each and one minority seat.
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Petroleum Minister Musadiq Malik were successful on the two technocrat seats, garnering 128 and 121 votes, respectively.
In Punjab, PML-N’s Anusha Rehman and Bushra Anjum were successful on two seats reserved for women, garnering 125 and 123 votes, respectively. PML-N’s Khalil Tahir Sindhu was successful on a minority seat.
Sindh
In Sindh, the ruling PPP secured 10 of the 12 seats up for grabs. The remaining two were won by the MQM-P and an independent candidate.
On general seats, PPP’s Ashraf Ali Jatoi (22 votes), Dost Ali Jessar (21 votes), Kazim Ali Shah (21 votes), Masroor Ahsan (21 votes), Nadeem Bhutto (21 votes) were successful.
MQM-P’s Amir Chishti (21 votes) and independent Faisal Vawda (21 votes) also won from a general seat. A day earlier, the PPP had decided to withdraw one of its candidates to support Vawda.
On the technocrat seats, PPP’s Zamir Ghumro (58 votes) and Sarmad Ali (57 votes) were successful. PPP’s Rubina Saadat Qaimkhani (57 votes) and Quratulain Marri (58 votes) won on two seats reserved for women.
PPP’s Poonjo Bheel (117 votes) was also successful on a minority seat.
Polls postponed in KP
Polling did not begin in KP at 9am as scheduled and around two hours later, was postponed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) “on account of delay of oaths of reserved seats”.
KP election commissioner Shamshad Khan reached the assembly and sought a list of the sworn-in MPAs from the assembly staff. At the same time, the opposition petitioned the ECP to postpone the Senate elections there.
Subsequently, the ECP issued a notification of the poll postponement, which referred to its March order wherein it had rejected a petition filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council — the new face of the PTI — seeking the allocation of reserved seats.
