PTI-backed Khurram Zeeshan emerges winner in Senate by-election

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Khurram Zeeshan has been elected a senator after securing 91 votes in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senate by-election, as per unofficial and unconfirmed results announced on Thursday.

His rival, Taj Afridi, who was backed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), secured 45 votes. The seat was vacated after PTI leader Shibli Faraz, who was also the opposition leader in the Senate, was disqualified.

A total of five candidates contested the by-election, while one vote was declared invalid during the counting process.

The voting took place at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, where lawmakers cast their ballots to fill the vacant Senate seat. The election remained peaceful.

After winning the election, the Senator-elect told reporters that he would now take his "battle" from the field to the Parliament. "Our first target is Imran Khan's release. There can be no stability in Pakistan until Imran Khan is freed."

Newly-elected KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi had also cast his vote. In a post on X, he had said that PTI founder Imran Khan’s candidate would win with a huge majority.

The seat was vacated in August after the Election Commission of Pakistan de-notified nine PTI lawmakers, including Faraz, in their convictions in the May 9 cases.