Seven, including Mohsin Naqvi, elected unopposed on Punjab’s Senate seats

F.P. Report

LAHORE / QUETTA: Seven Senate candidates from Punjab, including Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, elected unopposed on Wednesday. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Ahad Cheema, Pervaiz Rashid, Nasir Mehmood, Talal Chaudhry, have been elected unopposed. Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi of the ruling coalition has also been elected.

Sunni Ittehad Council’s Hamid Khan and Raja Nasir Abbas have been elected on the Senate’s general seats. Senate candidates Waleed Iqbal, Shahzad Waseem, Ejaz Hussain Minhas, Musadik Masood Malik and Omar Sarfraz Cheema withdrawn their nomination papers for the Senate election.

The nomination papers of 12 candidates were approved for the election on 7 general seats of Senate from Punjab after scrutiny. Now the elections will only be held on five seats from Punjab including two technocrat seats, two women-reserved seats and one minority seat. The polling for Senate elections on vacant seats of the house will be held on April 02 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm in the National Assembly and four provincial legislatures.

Meanwhile, six large parliamentary parties in Balochistan on Wednesday have decided to get their all candidates from the province elected unopposed in the Senate elections. Sources said that the parties had also agreed on the distribution of seats amongst themselves.

Sources revealed that out of a total 11 seats, both the PML-N and the PPP would get three seats each, while the JUI-F would get two and the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), the National Party (NP) and the Awami National Party would get one seat each. Out of three seats which the PML-N would get, they informed, two would be general and one for women.

Similarly, the PPP would get, sources disclosed, one general seat, one for a technocrat and one for women. Likewise, out of two seats, which the JUI-F would get, one would be general and one would be that for a technocrat. Syedal Nasir and Agha Shah Zeb Durrani will be the PML-N candidates for two general seats, while Rahat Faeq Jamali will be the party’s candidate for the women’s seat.

PPP Balochistan President Changez Jamali would be the party’s candidate for the general seat and Bilal Mandokhel for the technocrat seat. JUI-F had fielded Ahmad Khan Khilji as its candidate for the general seat while the party’s provincial Ameer Maulana Abdul Wasay would be the candidate for the technocrat seat, sources informed. Jan Muhammad Buledi would be the NP’s candidate and Aimal Wali Khan would be the ANP candidate for the general seat.

Hasna Bano would be the joint candidate of all parliamentary parties for the women’s seat. Former caretaker prime minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar would be got elected as a senator as an independent from the quota of BAP. Total, 35 candidates had filed their nomination papers for 11 Senate seats from Balochistan.