ISLAMABAD: The much-awaited Senate elections ended with PTI emerging as the winner with 18 seats, followed by PPP with eight.
Even though the PTI won, PDM's Yousuf Raza Gilani pulled off a major upset, emerging victorious against PTI's Hafeez Shaikh on the Islamabad general seat.
All the eleven candidates for Senate from Punjab were elected unopposed while candidates from Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federal Capital will be elected today.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari triumphantly tweeted: "Democracy is the best revenge. Jeya Bhutto!"
According to the returning officer, who announced the results after counting ended in the National Assembly, six of the total 340 ballots cast in the National Assembly were rejected.
Gilani obtained 169 votes, whereas Shaikh got 164. One vote was not cast.
In the Balochistan Assembly, all 65 members cast their votes, with the last vote cast by Mir Hamal Kalmati of the BNP.
Independent candidate Abdul Qadir, JUI-F's Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, BNP's Muhammad Qasim and ANP's Arbab Umar Farooq have each been elected to a general seat.
BAP also scored a sizeable victory with candidates Ahmed Kakar, Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti and Price Ahmed Umar Ahmed victorious on general seats.
Of the total seven candidates, whose results have so far been obtained, four were backed by the government, two from the Opposition and one was an independent candidate, backed jointly by the BAP and PTI.
In the Sindh Assembly, 167 out of 168 members cast their votes as Jamaat-e-Islami member Abdul Rashid did not cast his vote. Out of the 167 ballot papers cast, four were rejected.
The PPP, according to unofficial results, obtained seven more votes and have 99 members in the Assembly.
MQM's candidate for a women's seat Khalida Ateeb won with 57 votes, while PPP's Palwasha Khan also won a women's seat with 60 votes and Rukhshana Shah got 46 votes.
According to Election Commission sources, PPP's Saleem Mandviwalla, Sherry Rehman and Jam Mehtab Dhar have also been elected.
PPP's Farooq H Naek obtained 61 votes and won a technocrat seat, having won five more seats than the opponents.
In the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, all 145 votes were cast after a considerable delay due to some issues. The polling time had been extended due to some unknown difficulties.
PTI's Sania Nishtar won the women's seat with 56 votes, unofficial results show. Another candidate from the party, Falak Naz also obtained a women's seat with 51 votes.
The MPs were required to vote for 37 vacant seats of the Senate with 11 senators elected unopposed from Punjab. Polling was held for 12 seats each of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 11 of Sindh and two of the federal capital.
MPAs from the three provincial assemblies cast their vote for the candidates fielded from Balochistan, KP and Sindh, while MNAs voted for the representatives from the federal capital.
According to the code, the members of the National Assembly were required to bring their secretariat cards along in order to cast votes.
In addition, mobile phones or cameras were not allowed near the polling station. Also, votes were cast secretly.
The candidates, polling agents of the contesting candidates were present inside the polling station along with Election Staff. Outside the polling station, a copy of the list of contesting candidates had been displayed.
According to Rule 111 of the Election Rules 2017, each voter shall carry with him an identity card issued to him by the Secretary of the Assembly of which he is a Member and shall, if so required, show the same to the Returning Officer before a ballot paper is issued to him.
The Returning Officer shall, after satisfying himself about the identity of the voter and after ensuring that he has not already voted, put a tick mark against the name of the voter in the list of voters, enter the name of the voter on the counterfoil of the ballot paper and, after stamping the ballot paper on its back with the official mark and initialing it, hand it over to the voter.