Aurangzeb, Mohsin file nomination papers for Senate polls

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Saturday submitted their nomination papers for the Senate elections.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) leader Pervez Rasheed, Mustafa Ramday and Ahad Cheema have also submitted their nomination papers. Pervez Rasheed submitted the papers for a general seat while Ramday submitted the papers for a technocrat seat.

Meanwhile, names of Faisal Javed Khan, Azam Swati and Mirza Afridi are again on the list of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf for the upcoming Senate elections while candidature of Murad Saeed and Sanam Javed is seen as a surprise to many.

PTI founder chairman Imran Khan Saturday finalised the names of the party candidates from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab for the forthcoming Senate elections. He approved the names of his party’s candidates for Senate tickets and afterwards the party released the final list of candidates for the polls of the Upper House of Parliament.

Murad Saeed, Faisal Javed Khan, Mirza Afridi, Irfan Saleem and Khurram Zeeshan will be the party’s candidates for general seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Azhar Mashwani would be the covering candidate of Murad Saeed.

Likewise, Azam Swati and Irshad Hussain are the candidates of the party for technocrat seats, while Ayesha Bano and Rubina Naz will contest for women’s seats in the province.

Similarly in Punjab, Hamid Khan and Zulfi Bukhari are the candidates of the party for the general seats and Omer Sarfraz Cheema and Col Ijaz Minhas would be their covering candidates. Moreover, Sanam Javed will contest the Senate elections as the party’s candidate for women’s seat while Dr Yasmin Rashid will be a candidate for the technocrat seat from Punjab. Sanam is PTI social media activist who had announced withdrawal of her candidature from the February 8 general elections in favour of Mian Shahzad Farooq, who is the brother of PTI incarcerated leader Abad Farooq. She was a candidate from NA-119, Lahore.

Meanwhile, talking to reporters, after having met Imran Khan, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said that they will soon move the Supreme Court (SC) against the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) decision on reserved seats. Barrister Gohar clarified that ‘we have not organised a protest outside the IMF building, they have their own will to do so’. He regretted PTI founder was being tried in a closed room.

He appeared hopeful that the Supreme Court would give a verdict in their favour, saying no political party can get more reserved seats than the seats it had won.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), he claimed, had changed the schedule of their women’s reserved seats, and added not getting the allotted 80 reserved seats was a big issue, hopefully the Supreme Court would decide it.

Barrister Gohar recalled that in December they had submitted a list of reserved seats to the returning officer. He explained they had joined the Sunni Ittehad Council according to the situation and it was a serious decision. “We had taken a serious decision and we are still standing on it, requesting the Supreme Court to decide our case as soon as possible. Hopefully the decision of the judiciary will be in our favour,” he maintained.

In the letter written to the IMF, he pointed out, it was not written anywhere that they should not give loans to Pakistan. “We had reminded the IMF in the letter to investigate clean and transparent elections.”

Meanwhile, even after the recent by-election to six Senate seats, the PTI continues to be the largest party in the House with 17 senators, whereas after adding four more seats to its tally, Pakistan Peoples Party has now taken the second position with ten members.

PPP’s four candidates, winning their way to the Senate in the by-elections, are Yusuf Raza Gilani, Aslam Abro, Saifullah Dharejo and Abdul Quddus Bizenjo while PMLN’s Dostain Domki and Abdul Shakoor Ghibzai of JUI also got elected in the by-election.

PTI’s top position in the Upper House may be short-lived after the elections to 48 seats are conducted on April 2, subject to diverse factors. However, presently, both PPP and PMLN together are behind PTI’s numerical strength in the House.

Following the by-poll, the PMLN added one more seat and its total strength is now six senators in the 48-member House, as the ECP has issued the schedule for elections to 48 Senate seats on April 2.

Presently, Balochistan Awami Party is left with four senators, Awami National Party and MQM-Pakistan are represented by two senators each in the House, whereas PML and BNP have one seat each and JUI has three senators after the retirement of 52 members on March 11 and by-poll held three days later.

On the completion of their term, 52 senators were to retire on March 11. Though notification of the six senators elected on March 14 has not been issued yet.

Presently, there are two members of the Senate, sitting on the seats of independents, namely Naseema Ehsan and Muhammad Abdul Qadir.

Abdul Qadir had joined the PTI after winning as an independent senator and then after May 9 events, decided to quit the party to regain status as independent senator.

As many as 42 candidates on Saturday filed nomination papers for 11 seats in the Senate from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

An ECP official said 25 candidates filed nomination papers for the seven general seats while 10 submitted forms for the seats reserved for technocrats/ religious scholars. Besides, seven females have filed their nomination forms for two seats reserved for women.

Those who submitted nomination papers for the general seats in Senate included Murad Saeed, Faisal Javed, Khurram Zeeshan, Mirza Afridi, Azhar Mashwani, Irfan Saleem, Azam Khan Swati, Talha Mahmood, Asif Iqbal, Dilawar Khan, Noorul Haq Qadri, Taj Muhammad Afridi, Waqas Orakzai, Niaz Muhammad, Fazal Hannan, Masoodur Rehman, Shafqat Ayaz, Asif Rafiq, Mahmood Khan, Faizur Rehman, Muhammad Naseem, Sajjad Hussain, Ahmad Mustafa, Fida Muhammad and Attaul Haq.

Those who filed papers for the seats reserved for technocrats included Azam Khan Swati, Qazi Anwar advocate, Masoodur Rehman, Irshad Hussain, Noorul Haq Qadri, Dilawar Khan, Qaisar Khan, Waqar Ahmad Qazi, Hammad Mahmood Cheema and Fazal Hannan. Among the females who submitted nomination papers for a reserved seat in the Senate are Ayesha Bano, Rubina Khalid, Mehwish Ali, Rubina Naz, Shazia, Tahira Bukhari and Hamida Shahid.

Polls will be held on April 2 for seven general seats and two each seats reserved for women and technocrats/religious scholars in the Senate of Pakistan from KP.

The PTI, which has a clear majority in KP Assembly, has finalised the names of its candidates for the Upper House of Parliament according to which Murad Saeed, Irfan Saleem, Khurram Zeeshan, Faisal Javed and Mirza Afridi will contest for the general seats. In case of any technical issue, Azhar Mashwani will be the covering candidate for Murad Saeed. Azam Swati and Irshad Hussain will be candidates for seats reserved for technocrats while Ayesha Bano and Rubina Naz will be contesting for the seats reserved for women.