With 204 votes, Yusuf Raza Gilani, the anticipated Senate chairman, wins a by-election.
Initial results from Thursday’s by-elections show that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) won four Senate seats, while the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) each managed to win one seat.
Voting for the six Senate seats in the Assemblies of Sindh, Balochistan, and the National Assembly started at 9 a.m. and finished at 4 p.m.
According to Article 223 of the Constitution, which forbids legislators from holding two or more memberships, these six seats have become empty.
The fourth subsection of the article reads: “Subject to clause (2) if a member of either House or of a Provincial Assembly becomes a candidate for a second sear which, in accordance with clause (1), he may not hold concurrently with his first seat, then his first seat shall become vacant as soon as he is elected to the second seat.”
Balochistan
In the meantime, 61 votes were cast in the Balochistan Assembly for the province’s three general Senate seats. There were seven contenders vying for the three available slots.
Nonetheless, Abdul Quddus Bizenjo of the PPP, Mir Dostain Khan Domki of the PML-N, and Abdul Shakoor Khan of the JUI-F were able to win the elections. Bizenjo received 23 votes, Domki received 17, and the JUI-F candidate received 16 votes to win.
Following the February 8 general elections, which saw senators Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti, and Prince Ahmad Umar Ahmadzai elected to the National and Balochistan assemblies, these three Senate seats fell empty.
Haideri is a member of JUI-F, and Ahmadzai and Bugti were elected to the senate on BAP tickets. Now serving as the province’s chief minister, Bugti defected and joined the PPP.
Following discussions, the leaders of JUI-F and PPP agreed to back each other’s candidates in the Senate by-elections the previous day. While JUI-F sought support for their candidate in the Balochistan Senate by-elections, the PPP sought the organization’s endorsement from Islamabad.
Sindh
During the election to fill the two open general seats in the upper house, 124 votes were cast in Sindh. Following the count, PPP candidates Muhammad Aslam Abro and Jam Saifullah Khan Dharejo were elected to the Senate with 58 and 57 votes, respectively.
However, the Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) Shazia Sohail and Nazeerullah were only able to receive four votes apiece. Throughout the count, one vote was disqualified.
Following the general elections on February 8, PPP senators Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and Jam Mehtab Dahar were elected to the Sindh Assembly, leaving the seats vacant. In the Sindh Assembly, Sharifullah, the provincial election commissioner for Sindh, served as the returning officer.
Two opposition parties in the Sindh Assembly, the Muttahid Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Jamat-e-Islami (JI), abstained from voting in today’s election, sources told Geo News without providing any details.
Islamabad
Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani of the PPP was able to hold onto the National Assembly seat he had previously secured.
As the joint candidate of the ruling coalition of six parties, Gilani received 204 of the 301 votes cast, while Ilyas Mehrban of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) received only 88.
During the vote counting, nine ballots were disqualified. Following Gillani’s victory as MNA in the elections on February 8, the seat on which the elections were held today became vacant.
The PPP chief is the favorite to become the next Senate chairman.
