PPP’s Khalida Sikander wins Senate by-election

KARACHI: Pakistan People Party’s candidate Khalida Sikandar Mandhro has emerged victorious in the Senate by-election held in the Sindh Assembly on Wednesday.The by-election was held to fill the vacant seat of the Senate from Sindh for technocrats including Ulema.

The Senate seat became vacant after the death of the PPP’s Senator Dr Sikandar Mandhro, who had passed away in the USA last month. The winning candidate, who is spouse of Dr Mandhro, secured 97 votes in the by-poll.

As many as ninety-four lawmakers of the ruling PPP cast their votes in the by-election, while three renegade MPAs of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Aslam Abro, Shahar Yar Khan Shar, and Karim Bux Gabol also polled their votes.

The rival candidate of the PTI Noor Ul Haque Qureshi did not secure any vote as the party had already announced to stay away from the electoral process. The lawmakers of other opposition political parties in the Sindh Assembly, including the Muttahida Quami Movement also did not take part in the polling. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and Acting Sindh Governor Agha Siraj Khan Durrani also cast their votes in the polling, which was held uninterrupted from 9 am to 4 pm.