135 in the race for 48 Senate seats

ISLAMABAD: As many as 135 aspirants for the Senate’s 48 seats have filed their nomination papers, as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has time till March 19 to carry out scrutiny of their documents.

The overall candidature suggests that after the new senators become its members early next month, the Senate will witness stormier proceedings in future. The house will be a real test for the new Senate chairman and many foresee the cool-headed and soft-spoken Yusuf Raza Gilani as the fresh custodian of the upper house of parliament.

The maximum 42 nominations have been filed in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, followed by 36 in Balochistan, 35 in Sindh and 22 in Punjab. This time around, there will be no voting for the erstwhile tribal areas, as it is now part of KP under the 25th Constitutional Amendment. Previously, reports of manipulations concerning voting for candidates from Fata for the Senate would always make round.

There is a mix of old and new faces among the candidates and also there are some who are expected to make it to the upper house of parliament on April 2 without any trouble. Voting is done through a secret ballot therefore, during each election, ‘surprises’ spring as well, mainly from the Balochistan Assembly.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, former caretaker chief minister Punjab, ex-caretaker premier Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar and Finance Minister Aurangzeb are among those who are believed will face no impediment in their way on the polling day to get elected as senators. As voting is done through a secret ballot, it will be quite interesting to see, to what extent, results will reflect the respective parties’ presence in the provincial legislatures, particularly Balochistan Assembly on the polling day.

Again, certain political parties have gone for seat adjustments; Ishaq Dar is contesting from the federal capital while Aimal Wali Khan is in the run from Balochistan.

Having a look at the list of candidates, one thing becomes crystal clear that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf stands out as the only political entity heavily banking on its hawks like Faisal Javed, Dr Yasmin Rashid and Azam Swati and, of course, Murad Saeed, who is a new face as far as Senate election is concerned, as is Zulfi Bukhari. The soft-spoken Muhammad Mirza Afridi, who served as deputy chairman Senate, has been fielded by the PTI again.

While the PMLN has overlooked some old party loyalists, it has fielded Pervaiz Rashid. Likewise, the PPP has ignored former Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani, who just exhausted his six-year term on March 11.

Quratulain Marri, Kauda Babar, Ishaq Dar, Faisal Javed and Azam Swati are among the candidates making a fresh bid after completing the six-year term this month.

According to the ECP notification, nomination papers were to be filed on March 15 and 16, while scrutiny of nomination papers is to be conducted till March 19. Similarly, appeals against the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers, if any, will be disposed of by March 25 while the final list of candidates will be published on March 27. Polling will be held from 9am to 4pm.