Upsets likely in KP, Balochistan for prized Senate seats

ISLAMABAD: Upsets loom large in the Senate elections in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan legislatures amid allegations and complaints of vote buying and selling while the electoral exercise in Punjab and Sindh will be a smooth sailing.
The results are almost known in Punjab and Sindh because of the strong grip of the political parties over these legislatures but this is not the case in Balochistan and KP.
Election to the Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata) seats is as fishy as it had always been in the past. There are just twelve voters (Fata members of the National Assembly) being wooed by a whopping number of 43 candidates offering their own attractions.
Interestingly, there are fewer candidates for the Senate seats from Punjab and Sindh assemblies compared to the number of contestants in Balochistan and KP.
Only twenty-three nominees are in the field in Punjab while there are twenty-eight candidates in Sindh. On the contrary, thirty-nine hopefuls are vying from KP while forty-two contestants are running for the prize positions in Balochistan.
Although the result of the one general seat from the federal area is a foregone conclusion due to the dominant numerical strength of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the National Assembly, as many as nine candidates have filed their nomination papers only to be ‘also-ran.’
Upsets are likely in the Balochistan and KP assemblies with the strong possibility that some nominees fielded by the political parties may not win here as their party men are expected to prefer other considerations.
The jumping of a few personalities in KP and Balochistan, who are either well connected or have much to offer in order to clinch the victory have raised eyebrows. At least there are three such candidates.
In 124-member KP assembly, at least 17.7 votes are required to elect one senator on a general seat. Seven such seats are to be filled in each province.
If the members of the KP assembly voted as directed by their parties, certain candidates sponsored by some of them have no chance to win because these entities don’t have enough numerical strength to succeed.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is the largest party in the KP with fifty-six members. The PML-N and Jamiat Ulemae Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) follow it with 17 lawmakers each, and are in a position to win one seat each. On number three stands Aftab Sherpao’s Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) with ten members.
The Awami National Party (ANP), Awami Jamhoori Ittehad Pakistan (AJIP) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) have the support of five legislators each. The PTI’s coalition partner, the Jamaat-e-Islami, has eight lawmakers.
Unless the ruling and opposition parties form their separate coalitions with the objective of contesting the Senate seats to win maximum seats, most of them can’t even get a single seat for not having the sufficient number of lawmakers. The AJIP, ANP, Jamaat-e-Islami, PPP and QWP fall in this category.
In Balochistan, some political parties especially those which are ruling may suffer setbacks in the form of quiet defections by some of their members.
Here, the PML-N, National Party, PML-Q and Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen are part of the ruling coalition while the JUI-F and Awami National Party are in the opposition.