QUETTA: There will be no polling for the 11 Senate seats from Balochistan as all candidates — seven for general seats and two each for seats reserved for women and technocrats — were elected unopposed ahead of the elections scheduled for April 2.
The nine senators were declared winners a day earlier, while the result was awaited in the two remaining technocrat seats.
According to a Geo News report, Maulana Abdul Wasey of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) and Bilal Khan Mandokhail of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) were elected to the reserved seats.
Besides, the other nine candidates elected unopposed to the Senate from Balochistan include former caretaker prime minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, who returned to the upper house as an independent candidate for the general seat.
Similarly, Syed Nasir and Agha Shahzeb Durrani of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Sardar Umar Gorgej of PPP, John Buledi of National Party, Aimal Wali of Awami National Party and Ahmed Khan of JUI-F were also elected to general seats .
Additionally, the PML-N and PPP secured the two women’s seats contested in the province. The candidates who were elected are Rahat Jamali of PML-N and Hasna Bibi of PPP.
Overall, PML-N and PPP managed to win 3 seats each, while JUI-F won two and ANP and National Party one each.
Punjab senators elected unopposed
Earlier, seven candidates were elected unopposed as senators from Punjab for general seats.
Those elected as senators without facing any contest include PML-N leaders Pervaiz Rasheed, Nasir Mehmood and Talal Chaudhry.
Subsequently, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Federal Economy Minister Ahad Cheema were also elected unopposed as senators.
Besides, Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) backed Raja Nasir Abbas and Hamid Khan were also among the newly elected MPs.
However, in Punjab, not all senators were elected unopposed as the election will be held on five seats reserved for technocrats, women and minorities.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced the holding of Senate elections on April 2 to fill 48 vacant seats.
After the 6-year mandate of the current senators expired last week, 52 seats became vacant in the upper chamber of the parliament.
However, the ECP announced polls for 48 seats as four seats reserved for the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) were abolished after the 25th constitutional amendment.
