KARACHI: The ruling alliance at the center managed to win the by-polls in five of the six Senate seats, with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) securing the majority of seats.
Elections for six Senate seats in the National, Sindh and Balochistan Assemblies began at 9:00 AM and ended at 4:00 PM.
The six seats became vacant under Article 223 of the Constitution, which prohibits legislators from having dual membership.
Paragraph 4 of the article states: “Subject to provision (2), if a member of the Chamber of Deputies or the Regional Assembly becomes a candidate for the second round, which, in accordance with paragraph (1), he cannot hold at the same time as his first mandate, then his first place will release as soon as he is elected to the second seat.”
In the National Assembly, PPP’s Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani managed to retain the seat he vacated after securing.
Of the 301 votes cast, Gilani, who was the joint candidate of the six-party ruling coalition, secured 204 votes compared to Ilyas Mehrban of his rival Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), who could only get 88 votes.
When the votes were counted, nine votes were rejected.
The seat where the election was held today became vacant after Gillani was elected as an MNA in the February 8 election.
The PPP leader was tipped for the post of Senate chairman.
In Sindh, 124 votes were cast during the polling that was held to fill the two vacant general seats of the upper house.
After counting, PPP’s Jam Saifullah Khan Dharejo and Muhammad Aslam Abro managed to get elected to the Senate by getting 58 and 57 votes respectively.
While Nazeerullah and Shazia Sohail of Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) were able to get only 4 votes each.
One vote was rejected during the count.
The seats fell vacant as PPP senators Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and Jam Mehtab Dahar were elected to the Sindh Assembly in the February 8 general elections.
The Provincial Election Commissioner, Sindh, Sharifullah, acted as the Returning Officer in the SIindh Assembly.
In today’s election, Muttahid Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Jamat-e-Islami (JI) — the two opposition parties in the Sindh Assembly — boycotted voting, sources told Geo News without elaborating.
Meanwhile, 61 votes were cast in the Balochistan Assembly for the three General Senate seats from the province.
A total of seven candidates applied for three seats.
However, Abdul Quddus Bizenjo of PPP, Mir Dostain Khan Domki of PML-N and Abdul Shakoor Khan of JUI-F managed to win the elections.
Bizenjo got 23 votes, Domki 17, while the JUI-F candidate was elected with 16 votes.
These three Senate seats fell vacant after Senators Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti and Prince Ahmad Umar Ahmadzai became members of the National and Balochistan Assemblies in the February 8 general elections.
Haideri belongs to JUI-F while Bugti and Ahmadzai were elected on BAP tickets to the senate.
Bugti, who is now the chief minister of the province, jumped ship and joined the PPP.
A day earlier, JUI-F and PPP leaders held talks and decided to support each other’s candidates in the Senate bypolls.
PPP sought support of JUI-F for its candidate from Islamabad while JUI-F sought support for its candidate in Senate by-polls in Balochistan.
