F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-backed independent candidates have bagged 15 Senate seats across the country with the result of four seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remaining.
PML-N-backed independent candidates secured 11 of 12 seats in the Punjab Assembly and also bagged another two seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
While in the federal capital, PML-N-backed Mushahid Hussain Syed bagged the technocrat seat and Asad Junejo won the general seat. PML-N-backed Dilawar Khan won on the technocrat seat from KP.
The opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which was in control of Senate, managed to bag 10 seats from Sindh and one from KP.
The PML-N is expected to replace the PPP as the largest party in the upper house after Saturday’s election.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has bagged three seats from KP, one each in general, woman and technocrat category. In addition, Chaudhry Sarwar won a seat in the general category from Punjab.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P), beset by factional infighting in the run-up to the Senate polls, only managed to secure a single seat from Sindh.
Among the smaller parties, PML-F secured a seat from Sindh. The JUI-F bagged a seat each from Balochistan and KP while the National Party won two seats from Balcohistan.
From FATA, independent candidates Hidayatullah, Hilalur Rehman, Shamim Afridi and Mirza Afridi have been elected as senators, according to unofficial results.
Lawmakers began voting at 9am across the four provincial assemblies and the National Assembly.
Candidates contested for 52 seats from the provinces, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the federal capital.
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Elections Act 2017 case, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidates contested the election as independents.
Rangers and Frontier Constabulary personnel were deployed outside the provincial assemblies and Parliament to provide security.
To elect the senators from FATA, eight of 11 FATA MNAs cast their votes — with state minister Ghalib Khan Wazir, PML-N’s Shahabuddin and PTI’s Qaiser Jamal abstaining.
In NA, more than 290 MNAs cast their votes, with Imran Khan, Sheikh Rasheed, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Farooq Sattar choosing to stay away from the process.
In the Balochistan Assembly, all the 64 MPAs cast their votes, whereas in Sindh, 135 MPAs cast their votes while 30 were yet to do so when the time ended.
In the Senate elections, the four provincial assemblies vote for their representatives, whereas the FATA senators are elected by the MNAs from the tribal areas and the Islamabad senators by the National Assembly members.
A total of 20 candidates were contesting 12 seats from Punjab, 33 on 12 seats from Sindh, 26 on 11 seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 25 on 11 seats from Balochistan, 24 on four seats from FATA and five on two seats from Islamabad.
Sources claimed that MQM-Pakistan’s six MPAs in the Sindh Assembly defied party orders and voted for the Pakistan Peoples Party.
Sources revealed that the dissident MPAs include four women lawmakers, one religious minority member and one from interior Sindh.
