Asif Shaikh
The election for Upper House was held on Wednesday for Sindh seats in provincial assembly amid allegations of horse-trading and abduction of MPAs.
The Pakistan People’s Party has set the target of winning ten seats, out of 11 of the province more than three seats irrespective of its numerical strength in the assembly.
The PPP was claiming of having support of some 15 MPAs of the opposition parties and that they could change their loyalties in favour of the PPP.
On the other hand, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and its two allied parties, MQM-P and GDA, were eyeing five seats in accordance of their collective strength in the provincial assembly.
On the polling day 167 out of 168 members cast their votes, as Jamaat-e-Islami member Abdul Rashid did not cast his.
According to final results PPP bagged seven — five general, one women and one technocrat seats.
The opposition won four — two general, one women and one technocrat seats.
Among General seats, PPP’s Saleem Mandviwalla, Sherry Rehman, Taj Haider, Shahadat Awan, and Jam Mehtab Dhar were elected to general seats.
Among the opposition candidates PTI’s Faisal Vawda won one seat while its allied party MQM’s Faisal Sabzwari won the other.
PPP’s Palwasha Khan won one seat with 60 votes. MQM candidate Khalida Ateeb emerged the second victor, obtaining eight votes less from the Opposition side, but managed to secure 57 votes.
On Technocrat quota, PPP’s Farooq H Naek won one with five more votes than the opponents, whereas PTI’s Saifullah Abro won the other with 57 votes.
PPP candidates got a total of 104 votes, with Naek getting 61 and Kareem Khwaja getting 43. The PTI allied parties got eight votes fewer than the PTI candidates.
The major upset in Sindh was that GDA candidate Pir Sadruddin Rashdi lost the general seat.
