Senate by-elections: PPP bags four, while PML-N and JUI-F win one seat each

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) bagged four seats, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) succeeded in winning one seat each in the Senate by-elections Thursday, according to the initial results.

The polling for the six Senate seats in the National, Sindh and Balochistan Assemblies began at 9 am and ended at 4 pm.

These six seats became vacant under Article 223 of the Constitution which prohibits lawmakers from holding dual membership.

The sub-section 4 of the article states: “Subject to clause (2) if a member of either House or of a Provincial Assembly becomes a candidate for a second sear which, per 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.”

Islamabad

The seat on which the elections were held today had fallen vacant after Gillani was elected as MNA in the Feb 8 elections.

The PPP leader has been tipped for the Senate chairman’s position.

Sindh

In the Sindh Assembly, 124 votes were cast during the polling held to fill the two vacant general seats of the upper house.

PPP’s Jam Saifullah Khan Dharejo and Muhammad Aslam Abro managed to get elected to the Senate by obtaining 58 and 57 votes respectively.

While Nazeerullah and Shazia Sohail of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) were only able to get 4 votes each.

Meanwhile, one vote was rejected.

The seats became vacant as PPP senators Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and Jam Mehtab Dahar were elected to the Sindh Assembly in the February 8 general elections.

Balochistan

In the Balochistan Assembly, 61 votes were cast for the three general seats of the Senate from the province.

PPP’s Abdul Quddus Bizenjo, PML-N’s Mir Dostain Khan Domki and JUI-F’s Abdul Shakoor Khan managed to win the elections among the seven candidates who were running for three seats.

Bizenjo won 23 votes, Domki got 17 while the JUI-F’s candidate got elected with 16 votes.

These three Senate seats became 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 from JUI-F, while Bugti and Ahmadzai were elected on the BAP tickets to the senate.