By-polls on six Senate seats from Sindh, Balochistan, Islamabad today

KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: The by-elections to fill six vacant Senate seats from Sindh, Balochistan and Islamabad will be held on Thursday (today).

The by-elections to fill two vacant general seats in the Senate of Pakistan from Sindh will be held at the Sindh Assembly building from 9am to 4pm. The candidates of Pakistan Peoples Party contesting the Senate by-elections are Jam Saifullah Khan Dharejo and Muhammad Aslam Abro. The candidates of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) contesting the by-polls are Nazeerullah and Shazia Sohail.

On Sunday last, the PPP’s covering candidates, Mukhtiar Ahmed, Dhamrah Aajiz and Waqar Mehdi, and SIC’s covering candidate Jameel Ahmed announced their retirement from the by-polls.

The by-polls are being held to fill the Sindh-based seats in the Senate that became vacant after the PPP’s senators Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and Jam Mehtab Dahar became members of the Sindh Assembly in the February 8 general elections.

Provincial Election Commissioner, Sindh, Sharifullah, has been acting as the returning officer for the by-election. Earlier, the returning officer received the nomination papers from the candidates desirous to contest the by-elections till March 3.

Meanwhile, a total of nine candidates have been in the running for three general seats of the Senate from Balochistan on which the by-polls will be held. These candidates are Syed Mahmood Shah (Independent), Shakeel Ahmed Durrani (PPP), Tariq Hussain (PPP), Abdul Shakoor Khan (Independent), Abdul Qudoos (PPP), Kauda Babar (Balochistan Awami Party), Muhammad Mobeen Khilji (Balochistan Awami Party), Mir Hair Bayar Khan Domki (Independent) and Mir Dostain Khan Domki (PMLN).

Earlier, a lone independent candidate Mir Khan withdrew from the by-polls contest in Balochistan. These three Senate seats became vacant after senators Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti and Prince Ahmad Umar Ahmadzai became members of the National and Balochistan assemblies in the February 8 general elections. Haideri belongs to Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl while Bugti and Ahmadzai belong to Balochistan Awami Party.

A day earlier, the leaders of JUIF and PPP held talks and decided to support each other’s candidates in the Senate by-polls. The PPP sought JUI-F’s support for its candidate from Islamabad while JUI-F sought backing for its candidate in the Senate by-polls in Balochistan. Independent candidate Abdul Shakoor Khan in the Balochistan by-polls is backed by the JUIF.

The polling for Senate by-polls will be held at the Balochistan Assembly building from 9am to 4pm. The MPAs have been asked to bring with them their original assembly membership cards and Computerised National Identity Cards. Cellular phones and cameras will not be allowed inside the polling stations.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly will elect one senator from Islamabad today (Thursday) on general seat vacated after PPP’s Senator Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani was elected Member National Assembly in the February 8 general elections.

Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani is now again a candidate of the PPP on the seat he vacated and against him the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) put Ilyas Mehrban to challenge him.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, polling will be held at the National Assembly, Islamabad.

Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani is a joint candidate of the ruling coalition of six parties and also has support of JUIF.