Senate Elections in Spotlight as KP Begins Voting for 11 Seats
The voting is underway in Jirga Hall of KP Assembly which has been declared polling station by the ECP.
Earlier, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur succeeded in convincing four dissident party members to withdraw from the Senate contest, salvaging a “PTI vs. PTI” situation in the election for the Upper House.
The chief minister held extensive talks with the disgruntled leaders, which went on past midnight.
The swearing-in ceremony of KP reserved seats MPAs on Sunday has cleared the path for long-delayed Senate elections.
The contest is taking place on seven general seats, alongside two reserved seats each for women and technocrats.
How many votes required?
Voting for Senate polls is taking place under the supervision of the Election Commission of Pakistan, with each MPA allowed to cast three votes. A white ballot paper will be used for general seats, green for technocrat seats, and pink for women’s seats.
To secure one of the seven general seats, a candidate will need at least 19 votes. For the reserved seats, candidates must secure 49 votes each.
In a rare display of mutual understanding, the provincial government led by PTI and the opposition have jointly fielded 11 candidates six backed by the ruling side and five by opposition parties.
The government currently enjoys the support of 92 MPAs in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, while the opposition bloc has the backing of 53 members.
The opposition is aiming to clinch three of the seven general seats but will need at least four additional votes to secure the third one.
Meanwhile, out of five PTI dissident members who had originally filed nomination papers, four have withdrawn from the contest. As a result, Khurram Zeeshan remains the only dissident candidate still in the running for a general seat.
According to parliamentary sources, seven panels are being formed today for the general seats. Among these, one panel will be unique as it will consist of members from both the government and the opposition. This panel will support PPP candidate Senator Talha Mahmood.
Currently, Talha Mahmood has only 15 votes from the opposition, but with the government providing five additional votes, his success can be ensured.
The government needs 76 votes to elect its four senators. After achieving this, it will have around 16 votes remaining. Sources say that five of these votes will be given to Talha Mahmood, which could become the biggest turning point of this election.
Sources revealed that out of the seven panels, four are for government candidates and two for the opposition, but Talha Mahmood’s panel will be the only one formed with the joint cooperation of both government and opposition members. It has also been revealed that members whose loyalty is in doubt will not be included in Mirza Afridi’s panel. Those opposing Ali Amin Gandapur will be placed in the panel of PTI’s ideological leader Murad Saeed to prevent them from voting for any other candidate.
Candidates in run
A total of 25 candidates are contesting the Senate elections from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
On the general seats, the government has fielded four candidates, while three have been nominated by the opposition. For the reserved seats two for women and two for technocrats both the government and the opposition have nominated two candidates each.
The PTI has named Murad Saeed, Faisal Javed, Mirza Mohammad Afridi, and Noorul Haq Qadri. Robina Naz and Azam Swati are also in the running under the PTI banner.
Opposition candidates include Niaz Ahmad from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Talha Mahmood from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and Atta-ul-Haq from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) on the general seats.
On the reserved seats, PPP has nominated Rubina Khalid, while JUI-F’s Dilawar Khan is also contesting.
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