PPP’s Gilani contests against PTI’s Ilyas Mehrban in NA.
Sindh Assembly votes for two Senate seats.
Seven candidates vying for 3 Balochistan seats.
KARACHI: Polling for the six Senate seats that fell vacant from Sindh, Balochistan and Islamabad is underway and will continue till 4:00pm.
These six seats had fallen vacant under Article 223 of the Constitution which prohibits lawmakers from holding dual membership.
The sub-section 4 of the article states: “Subject to clause (2) if a member of either House or of a Provincial Assembly becomes a candidate for a second sear which, in accordance with clause (1), he may not hold concurrently with his first seat, then his first seat shall become vacant as soon as he is elected to the second seat.”
Sindh
Meanwhile, Muttahid Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Jamat-e-Islami (JI) — two opposition parties in the Sindh Assembly — have boycotted the polling in Sindh, sources told Geo News without elaborating further.
The polling to fill two vacant general seats in the upper house from Sindh is currently underway where Pakistan Peoples Party has fielded Jam Saifullah Khan Dharejo and Muhammad Aslam Abro against Nazeerullah and Shazia Sohail of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
The by-polls are being held to fill the Sindh-based seats in the Senate that became vacant after the PPP senators Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and Jam Mehtab Dahar became members of the Sindh Assembly in the February 8 general elections.
Provincial Election Commissioner, Sindh, Sharifullah, has been acting as the returning officer for the by-election.
Balochistan
Meanwhile, a total of seven candidates have been in the running for three general seats of the Senate from Balochistan on which the voting is underway in the provincial legislature.
These candidates are Abdul Shakoor Khan (JUI-F backed), Abdul Quddus Bizenjo (PPP), Kauda Babar (Balochistan Awami Party), Muhammad Mobeen Khilji (Balochistan Awami Party), Mir Hair Bayar Khan Domki (Independent), Syed Mahmood Shah (Independent), and Mir Dostain Khan Domki (PML-N).
These three Senate seats became vacant after senators Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti and Prince Ahmad Umar Ahmadzai became members of the National and Balochistan assemblies in the February 8 general elections.
Haideri belongs to JUI-F, while Bugti and Ahmadzai were elected on the BAP tickets to the senate.
Bugti, who is now the chief minister of the province, has jumped ship and joined the PPP.
A day earlier, the leaders of JUI-F and PPP held talks and decided to support each other’s candidates in the Senate by-polls.
The PPP sought JUI-F’s support for its candidate from Islamabad while JUI-F sought backing for its candidate in the Senate by-polls in Balochistan.
Islamabad
Meanwhile, the National Assembly will elect one senator from Islamabad today on a general seat that fell vacant after PPP Senator Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani was elected as MNA in the Feb 8 elections.
The PPP leader is again vying for the seat and has been tipped for the Senate chairman’s slot.
Gillani is a joint candidate of the ruling coalition of six parties on the seat and against him, the SIC has fielded Ilyas Mehrban — a veteran PTI member.