Ag Agencies
ISLAMABAD: Political parties have geared up efforts to win seats in the Senate elections scheduled for March 3, as the election campaign ends tonight.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has devised a strategy for the Senate elections, as he would meet lawmakers in the Parliament House for the next two days and listen to their problems, Geo News reported.
The ruling Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) has also stepped up contacts with the allied parties in Sindh province due to the possibility of seat adjustments between the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).
The PTI hosted a lunch in Karachi on Sunday and invited the coalition partners – the MQM-P and the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA). GDA’s Sadruddin Rashidi, federal ministers and PTI members attended the reception. However, no one turned up from the MQM-P. Later, a spokesperson for the MQM-P clarified that the party’s provincial lawmakers could not attend the reception due to prior organisational engagements. The spokesperson said all the parties were engaged in preparations for the upcoming polls with their own respective approaches. He said the MQM-P was in constant touch with the PTI and GDA leadership regarding the Senate elections.
MQM-P leaders have thus far expressed the view that a vote for PPP’s Yousaf Raza Gillani would be tantamount to a vote of no-confidence against PM Imran Khan and so they were of the opinion that “unity cannot be sacrificed for two Senate seats”.
Talking to media, PTI leader Maulvi Mahmood said he had invited the parties for lunch in honour of the candidates standing for Senate elections. He said despite an invitation, the MQM-P delegation could not come due to a busy schedule.
On the other hand, the opposition alliance – the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) – appeared confident of success in Senate elections after its performance in the recent by-polls.
Speaking at a news conference alongside PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said the opposition alliance was ‘fully united’ for the Senate elections.
He earlier met the PPP chairman in the federal capital. Maulana Fazlur Rehman said leadership meetings would be held immediately after the Senate elections and a new strategy would be worked out and clarified. “The PDM is the only voice of the people across the country and getting rid of such rulers [incumbent government] will be a service to the people of Pakistan,” the JUI-F chief said.
Clarifying that the PDM was just the name of a movement and not an electoral alliance, he said the opposition parties were trying not to cut each other’s votes in the election from a moral perspective. “They thought that the PDM parties would damage each other’s votes themselves but the PDM is united in all four provinces as well as the Centre and is contesting the Senate elections.”
“God Willing, successful results will come out of the Senate elections,” he added, noting that there was “an atmosphere of hopelessness in the ranks of the PTI government”.
The strategy of a movement and the one prior to elections “is different”, he said, noting that a plan of action had been agreed upon as the National Assembly lawmakers are set to gather today. The JUI-F chief lauded the anti-government coalition, saying it was operating “very successfully as a movement”.
“Our candidates will be more successful in the Senate,” he said. “With regard to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the strategy for the Senate elections has been decided.”
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto said the PDM had challenged the PTI regime “on every front” and wished to send a message through the Senate elections that “even the government’s lawmakers are not with the government”.
“We will be successful in our mission,” he stressed. “We have prepared for both the open ballot and secret ballot method” in the Senate elections, he added, observing that “democratic” lawmakers would support the PDM.
Bilawal vowed to go to the PTI government’s home base and challenge it there. “We will also give a tough time to the government in KP,” he added. “The formula that has been worked out for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will unite and challenge the government. On the one hand, there’s [PPP candidate and former premier] Yousuf Raza Gillani and, on the other, is PTIMF candidate”, he explained, referring to Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.
“The PML-N seats won from Punjab will benefit us in electing the Senate chairperson and these votes will be very important,” he added.
The PPP chief also mentioned that the anti-government coalition had held talks with the PTI’s ally, the Karachi-based MQM-P, and “hopefully they will join the voice of the opposition”.
“The MQM-P was elected from Karachi but the federal government left Karachi orphaned. We have talked to the MQM-P, members of the PTI government, and other allies of the regime.”
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said on Sunday that the election campaign for Senate elections in the country would come to an end with effect from the midnight falling between March 1 and March 2. The commission has asked all the political parties and the contesting candidates to follow the provisions of law and exercise self-restraint so that the poll is held in an orderly and peaceful manner on March 3.