35 candidates submit nomination papers for Senate polls in Sindh

The Election Commission of Pakistan has received a total of 35 nominations for the Senate elections to be held on seats based in Sindh.

The first phase of submitting nomination papers for contesting the Senate elections was completed on Saturday. On the last day of submitting the forms, candidates backed by the Pakistan Peoples Party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, Sunni Ittehad Council and independent contenders submitted their papers in Karachi.

The nomination papers were received for seven general seats, two seats reserved for women, two for technocrats, and one seat reserved for minorities from Sindh.

Estranged Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Faisal Vawda also submitted his nomination papers independently and his proposer and seconder are MPAs belonging to the MQM-Pakistan. The proposer of Vawda is MQM MPA Ali Khursheedi while the seconder is Syed Adil Askari.

Vawda told media persons that he was contesting the Senate elections independently.

The candidates who submitted their nomination papers for independent seats are: Muhammad Najeeb Haroon, Muhammad Abu Bakar, Faisal Vawda, Abdul Rauf Siddiqui, Shabbir Ahmed Qaimkhani, Amir Waliuddin Chishti, Hamayu Sultan, Ashraf Ali Jatoi, Syed Masroor Ahsan, Syed Kazim Ali Shah, Sarfaraz Rajar, Nadeem Ahmed Bhutto, Javed Ahmed Nayab, Dost Ali Jessar, Abdul Wahab, Ghanwer Ali Khan Isran, Mukhtiar Ahmed Dhamrah Aajiz, Ali Tahir, Mir Raja Khan Jakhrani, Shehnaz Zaheer, and Nighat Mirza.

The candidates who submitted nomination papers for seats reserved for technocrats are: Zamir Hussain Ghumro, Sarmad Ali, Karim Ahmed Khawaja, Manzoor Ahmed Bhutta, and Abdul Wahab.

For the seats reserved for women, the candidates are Qurat-ul-Ain Marri, Rubina Qaimkhani, Yasmin Dadabhoy, Musarrat Nazeer Niazi, Sabina Parveen, and Mehjabeen Riaz.

For the seat reserved for minorities, the candidates are Poonjo Bheel, Sadhumal Surendar Valasai, and Bhagwan Das.

The ECP later issued the initial list of the contesting candidates. The scrutiny of the nomination papers will take place on March 19. The appeals against rejection or acceptance of the nomination papers will be received on March 21. The poll tribunals will decide on the appeals till March 25. The revised list of the candidates will be issued on March 26. The candidates could withdraw from the electoral race till March 27. The polling for these 12 Senate seats will be held on April 2.

CM media talk

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said that the provinces' share in the next NFC (National Finance Commission) award can only be increased and not decreased as per the constitution.

He stated this while speaking to the media at the Election Commission of Pakistan on Saturday where he went to submit the nomination papers of PPP candidates for the Senate elections to be held on April 2.

When asked about the IMF's condition to reduce the provinces' share in the upcoming NFC Award, Shah said that he had heard about it too. However, he added that the federal government had reportedly informed the IMF that the matters constitutionally settled between the federal and provincial governments couldn’t be negotiated or discussed.

He said that the 7th NFC award was announced before the passage of the 18th Constitutional Amendment. “After the 18th amendment, the provinces have been given more responsibilities; therefore, the upcoming NFC Award should be revised accordingly,” he said and added the federal government had its own point of view, but these issues would be discussed at the NFC forum.

According to Shah, the PPP had submitted the nomination papers of nine candidates for the general seats, three each for women and technocrats, and two for the seats reserved for minorities in the Senate elections in Sindh. He expressed hope that his party would win almost all the seats in the Senate elections in the province. He added that the PPP would release the final list of its candidates after the scrutiny of the nomination papers on Monday.

When the CM was asked about the trend of the PPP securing more votes in successive Senate elections than the number of its MPAs, he explained that unlike the election of the CM and the prime minister, assembly members are not always bound to vote in favour of their respective parties. Sometimes, they may vote based on their personal preferences. In such cases, the party couldn’t disqualify such members (who vote against the party line).

To a question, the CM said that except for the PPP no other party has filed nomination papers so far for the women, technocrat and minorities seats in the senate. “They may file as there is enough time, but we have already filed (the nomination papers),” he said and added he was hopeful that his party would clinch maximum seats.

Replying to a question, he said that good police officers were being posted to improve overall law and order in the province. “Yesterday we made a reshuffle at the SSP level and other police officers would also be changed to improve law and order and governance,” he said.

To a question, Shah said that the PPP was a rich party in terms of loyal workers and among these followers, the party leadership had selected candidates for Senate election, while the PTI lacks such loyalty in its ranks. He added that the PTI was not thinking about the country but for their leader which was why they were writing letters to the IMF and others against the sovereignty of the country.