Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday issued notifications of 37 candidates who have been elected to the Senate.
According to the notification, RanaMehmoodulHasan, Ishaq Dar, Bilal Ahmad Khan, Abdul Wasi, HusnaBano and RahatJamali have been elected senators from Balochistan.
From Punjab, AhadCheema, Parvez Rashid, Hamid Khan, Raja Nasir Abbas, MohsinNaqvi, TalalChaudhry, NasirMahmood, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Mussadiq Malik, AnushaRehman, BushraAnjum Butt and Khalil Tahir have been elected to the upper house of parliament.
From Balochistan, Ahmed Khan, AnwarulHaqKakar and AimalWali Khan have been declared elected. The 12 successful candidates from Sindh include seven winners on general seats – Syed MasroorAhsan of PPP, Dost Ali Jaisar, Ashraf Jatoi, Kazim Ali Shah, Nadeem Bhutto, AamirChishti of MQM-Pakistan and independent candidates Faisal Vawda. QuratulainMarri and RubinaQaimkhani of the PPP have won the women’s seat, while Panju Mil Bheel of the PPP was declared winner on minority seat and ZameerGhamro and Sarmad Ali on the technocrat seat.
It may be recalled that half of the Senate members – 48 – retired after completing their six-year term in March. Elections were held on April 2 to fill 30 vacant seat as 18 members had already been elected unopposed. However, elections on 11 seats of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were postponed due to a stand-off between the provincial government and opposition over the oath-taking of MPAs-elect on reserved seats. As a result of which 19 senators were elected on April 2.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) has nominated former prime minister Yusuf RazaGilani as its candidate for the prized slot of Senate chairman. A notification in this regard has been issued by JamilSoomro, political secretary to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
As per an agreement between the PPP and PML-N, the post of president, Senate chairman and governorship of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were given to the PPP, while the posts of Senate deputy chairman, National Assembly speaker and governorship of Sindh and Balochistan were given to the PML-N.
