Big upset in Senate as Gilani defeats Hafeez

The much-awaited Senate elections ended with PTI emerging as the top victor with 18 seats in the Upper House, followed by PPP with eight. However, in a big upset for the PTI, opposition’s joint candidate Yousaf Raza Gilani won the hotly contested general seat from Islamabad, beating ruling party’s Abdul Hafeez Shaikh. Gilani secured 169 votes, while Shaikh bagged 164 votes. Meanwhile, the women seat from the federal capital went to PTI’s Fozia Arshad, who defeated PML-N’s Farzana Kausar. Voting was held for 37 vacant seats of the Senate as 11 senators had already been elected unopposed from Punjab due to withdrawals from the opposing candidates. Polling was held for 12 seats each of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 11 of Sindh and two of the federal capital. The PPPP came on top in Senate elections from Sindh by winning seven seats, while PTI and MQM-P clinched two seats each. While announcing the results, Provincial Election Commissioner (Sindh) and Returning Officer (RO) for Senate Elections Ejaz Anwar Chohan said that a total of 167 votes were cast out of 168 votes in the Sindh Assembly. He said that in the category of women, PPPP’s Palwasha Mohammad Zai Khan and Khalida Ateeb of MQM-P were elected. While on the seats of technocrats, Farooq Hamid Naek of PPPP and Saifullah Abro of PTI stood victorious. On the general seats, PPPP won five seats while PTI and MQM-P got one seat each. PPPP’s Sherry Rehman, Saleem Mandviwala, Taj Haider, Shahdat Awan and Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar while PTI’s Faisal Vawda and MQM-P’s Syed Faisal Ali Subzwari won the elections on the general seats. Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf made history in Senate polls by securing 10 seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly in the elections. According to official result announced by election commission, PTI’s candidates, who were elected senators on general seats included Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Syed Shibli Faraz, Mohsin Aziz, Liaquat Khan Tarkai, Faisal Saleem and Zeeshan Khanzada. Opposition clinched two seats of Hidayatullah Khan (ANP) and Maulana Atta ur Rehman (JUI-F). On two seats of technocrats, PTI’s Dost Muhammad Khan and Muhammad Hamayun Mohmand were elected as senators by securing 59 and 49 votes respectively. The lone seat for non-Muslim was also clinched by PTI’s Gurdeep Singh, who got 103 votes. Similarly, PTI’s Sania Nishtar and Falak Naz remained successful by getting 56 and 51 votes respectively on two women seats. Unofficial results of 12 seats of Senate elections were announced in Balochistan where 65 member of provincial assembly cast their votes on Wednesday. Seven candidates, five of them government coalition and two of opposition alliance, won seven general seats. According to unofficial results, Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti, Manzoor Ahmed Kakar, Prince Ahmed Omar Ahmadzai, Arbab Omar Farooq and Mohammad Abdul Qadir are among the successful candidates for the general seats. Meanwhile, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri and Mohammad Qasim Ronjho were elected as senators from the general seats by support of opposition parties. Samina Mumtaz and Naseema Ehsan won two women seats in Balochistan. BAP’s Samina Mumtaz was supported by the ruling coalition while Naseema Ehsan was an independent candidate and had joined the BNP-M a day earlier. JUI candidate Kamran Murtaza Advocate and BAP’s Saeed Ahmed Hashmi won two seats of technocrats. BAP’s Dhanish Kumar was declared successful on minority seat. The polling started at 9am and continued till 5pm without any break. The ECP staff reached the Parliament House in Islamabad early morning on Wednesday. In the National Assembly, the first vote was cast by PTI’s Shafiq Arain, while the second one was cast by Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda. NA Speaker Asad Qaiser, Prime Minister Imran Khan, PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto and Leader of Opposition Shehbaz Sharif were among those who cast their votes. Meanwhile, the vote of PTI lawmaker and Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Shehryar Khan Afridi was feared to have been rendered invalid after he signed his ballot paper. He later submitted a request to the ECP presiding officer seeking permission to recast his vote. In the application, Afridi stated that he had been “feeling unwell for past few days” and couldn’t attend party meetings for preparation for the Senate polls. “When I approached you to cast my vote I asked you and your staff but they failed to guide me. Later, I put my signature on the ballot papers instead of putting numbers,” he said while addressing the presiding officer, requesting permission to recast his vote. However, his request was turned down by the presiding officer.