ISLAMABAD: Polling for the 11 Senate seats from Balochistan scheduled for April 2 will not take place, as all candidates have been elected unopposed. This includes seven for general seats and two each for seats reserved for women and technocrats.
Nine senators were declared winners earlier, while results for the remaining two technocrat seats were pending. Muhammad Farid Afridi, returning officer, today notified unopposed victory of seven Senators from Balochistan on general seats. Below is the copy of the notification.
Maulana Abdul Wasey from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) and Bilal Khan Mandokhail from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have been elected on the reserved seats.
Among the other nine candidates elected unopposed are former caretaker prime minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, who returns to the upper house as an independent candidate on a general seat.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidates Syed Nasir and Agha Shahzeb Durrani, PPP’s Sardar Umar Gorgej, National Party’s John Buledi, Awami National Party’s Aimal Wali, and JUI-F’s Ahmed Khan have also secured general seats.
PML-N and PPP have secured the two women’s seats, with Rahat Jamali from PML-N and Hasna Bibi from PPP being elected.
In total, PML-N and PPP each obtained three seats, JUI-F secured two, while ANP and National Party claimed one seat each.
Of the total 33 Senate candidates, 20 withdrew their nomination papers, while two opted to support their opponents, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
This uncontested success highlights the significant presence of Balochistan in the upper echelons of the parliament.
New Senators from Punjab
Similarly, in Punjab, the returning officer confirmed unopposed victories for general seats in the Senate elections.
Seven candidates secured general seats with the support of PML-N, including Ahad Khan Cheema, Pervaiz Rasheed, Mohsin Naqvi, Talal Chaudhry, Nasir Mehmood, Hamid Khan, and Raja Nasir Abbas from the Sunni Ittehad Council.
Elections for seats reserved for women, technocrats, and minorities are scheduled for April 2.
In Punjab, tensions arose over seat adjustments, with PPP expressing dissatisfaction over PML-N’s failure to allocate seats for women. Despite PML-N’s stance, PPP refused to withdraw Faiza Malik’s candidacy.
