PTI’s Azam Swati elected Senator from KP

PESHAWAR: Former Senator and provincial president of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Azam Khan Swati was elected as member of the Upper House of Parliament in the election held here Wednesday at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.
The PTI and its coalition partners, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and Awami Jamhoori Ittehad Pakistan (AJIP) ruling Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, had fielded Azam Swati.
The combined opposition in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly had awarded ticket to former Senator Ghulam Ali of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) for contesting for the Senate seat that had fallen vacant after the death of Azam Khan Hoti of Awami National Party (ANP).
According to unofficial result, 117 votes were cast in the election in which six votes were rejected on technical grounds.The PTI candidate secured 71 votes while the JUI-F nominee polled 41 ballots.
In the 124-member House, five lawmakers including Dr Haider Ali of PTI, Syed Jaffar Shah of ANP, Malik Noor Salim of JUI-F, Aneesa Zeb Tahirkheli of Qaumi Watan Party and Sobia Shahid of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) couldn’t cast their votes as they were reportedly out of the country.
The newly elected MPA Aizazul Mulk Ifkari of the Jamaat-e-Islami from Lower Dir didn’t cast his vote as he had yet to take oath as member of the provincial assembly.The polling inside the premises of the provincial assembly started at 9am and ended at 4pm without any break on Wednesday.
The ruling alliance of PTI, JI and AJIP has 68 members in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. The PTI has 56, JI seven and AJIP five members.The opposition benches have 53 lawmakers including 17 of JUI-F, 16 of PML-N, 10 of QWP and five each of the ANP and Pakistan People’s Party. There are two independent MPAs in the assembly.
The PTI candidate Azam Swati got five extra votes including two from the independent lawmakers Jamshed Mohmand of Mardan and Shah Faisal of Hangu.After losing the election, Ghulam Ali blamed the PML-N for his defeat, saying that some of its members voted for the PTI candidate.
Wajeehuzzaman of PML-N was allowed by the court to cast his vote. He had been disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan under the defection law. The PML-N had accused him of not voting for its candidates in the Senate elections held in March.
Dissident PTI MPA Javed Naseem also voted in the contest for the lone Senate seat on Wednesday. He claimed that he had voted for Azam Swati.Javed Naseem had not cast his vote in the Senate election in March as the PTI leadership had accused him of violating party discipline and switching loyalty.
With the win of Azam Swati, the PTI has now seven Senators from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.Mohsin Aziz, Shibli Faraz, Liaqat Tarakai, Nauman Wazir, Samina Abid and Brig (r) John Kenneth Williams were elected on the PTI ticket in Senate elections held in March this year.