PTI-backed candidates boycott Senate polls in Sindh over 'rigging'

Alleging widespread rigging in the upcoming Senate elections, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Sindh chapter boycotted the April 2 polls to elect the members of the upper house of parliament.

“Senate elections are being won through rigging,” PTI leader Haleem Adil Sheikh said while addressing a press conference in Karachi on Sunday.

Those who won elections as per Form 45 are not part of the Sindh Assembly, he said referring to the allegations that PTI-backed candidates were made to lose the elections by allegedly tampering with the election results in Form 47.

He said six PTI-backed candidates were in the run for Senate polls in Sindh, however, they have boycotted the elections.

“The incumbent government is going to be buried in a mass grave. We won elections on 180 seats in the general elections but most of them were taken away,” he alleged.

On Wednesday, 14 candidates withdrew their nomination papers for contesting the Senate elections from the province. After the withdrawal of the candidates, the Pakistan Peoples Party is likely to win one of the two Senate seats reserved for women unopposed.

The PPP has fielded 11 candidates, while the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has just one candidate.

The PPP candidates are Syed Masroor Ahsan, Syed Kazim Ali Shah, Jeean Khan Sarfaraz Rajar, Nadeem Ahmed Bhutto, Dost Ali Jessar, Ashraf Ali Jatoi, Sarmad Ali, Zamir Hussain Ghumro, Poonjo, Qurat-ul-Ain Marri and Rubina Qaimkhani.

The lone MQM-Pakistan contestant for the general seat of the upper house of parliament is Amir Waliuddin Chishti.

Independent candidate backed by the MQM-P Faisal Vawda is also contesting the polls to a general seat of the Senate from Sindh.

Independent candidates backed by the PTI — Mehjabeen Riaz, Ali Tahir, Mir Raja Khan Jakhrani, Abdul Wahab, Manzoor Ahmed Bhutta, and Bhagwan Das — had also filed nomination papers for the Senate polls in the province.

The polling for seven general seats — two seats for technocrats, two seats for women, and one seat reserved for minorities in the Senate from Sindh — will be held at Sindh Assembly on April 2 from 9am to 4pm.