45 obtain nomination papers for Senate polls in KP

PESHAWAR: Eight more candidates obtained nomination papers on Wednesday for the upcoming Senate elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

"A total of 45 candidates have so far obtained nomination papers to contest the Senate elections in KP," an official of the Election Commission of Pakistan said. Half of the senators would retire by March 6 after completing six-year tenure and new members would be elected on these seats from all the provinces.

Those who have so far obtained nomination papers include candidates of different political parties and independent contenders, including women. More candidates are likely to turn up at the offices of ECP to collect nomination papers in the coming days.

The ECP has set up digital facilitation centres in Peshawar and other provinces for online verification of various documents of candidates from the department concerned. The facilitation centres will provide the information to the concerned returning officers.

A video that went viral the other day in which MPAs from KP were allegedly receiving money before the March 2018 Senate polls has created a fresh controversy just ahead of the polls for the Upper House of parliament. Many assembly members were accused in the past of receiving huge amounts for their vote in the Senate polls. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and earlier the Awami National Party (ANP) had expelled their MPAs who sold their votes instead of voting for party candidates.

However, this is for the first time that a video has gone viral showing a number of vote-selling MPAs counting bundles of banknotes and stuffing them into bags and boxes. Some of these MPs have denied charges, asking for the forensic examination of the video.

The six MPAs seen in this video include PTI’s Sardar Mohammad Idrees, Obaidullah Mayar and Ms Deena Naz, Qaumi Watan Party (QWP)’s Sultan Mohammad Khan and Ms Mairaj Humayun Khan and PPP’s Syed Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha, who is smoking cigarettes and has apparently been the deal-maker to get PPP candidates Bahramand Khan Tangi and Robina Khalid elected.

Sultan Mohammad Khan quit the QWP after the Senate polls and joined the PTI before the July 2018 general election. He contested and won a provincial assembly seat from his native Charsadda district and was made minister for law and parliamentary affairs. He was sacked by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan after emergence of the video on the instructions of Prime Minister Imran Khan.