LAHORE – Voting for the Senate by-election against two seats from Punjab is underway at the Punjab Assembly building on Thursday.
According to Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Punjab spokesperson, the polling will continue uninterruptedly from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Tahir Khalil Sindhu was first to cast his vote in the by-polls. As many as 369 provincial lawmakers will use their right to vote.
The seats fell vacant after two lawmakers of the PML-N, Sadia Abbasi and Haroon Akhter Khan, were disqualified by the supreme court earlier this year.
In today’s election, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has fielded Walid Iqbal against PML-N’s Saud Majeed for the General Senate seat. PTI’s Seemi Ezdi and PML-N’s Saira Afzal Tarar are vying for the women reserved seat.
The Punjab Assembly building has been declared the polling station for the by-polls. Provincial ECP’s Zafar Iqbal Hussain has been appointed Returning Officer to conduct the elections.
Party Position in Punjab Assembly
The PTI, which is also ruling Punjab, is in the strong position in the provincial assembly as it holds 180 seats. It has also the support of his coalition partners that include PML-Q’s 10 lawmakers and two independent legislators.
Out of 371 total provincial seats, the PML-N holds 167 seats. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which had secured 7 seats in recent general elections, has announced to support the candidates fielded by the PML-N.
PPP Backs PML-N
PPP Punjab chapter’s information secretary, Syed Hassan Murtaza had said that after internal consultations party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had decided to support the PML-N.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/pakistan/ppp-to-vote-pml-n-candidates-for-senate-polls/
Senate Seats
The position of the Imran Khan-led party will slightly improve if it manages to win the two Punjab seats. Currently, it holds 12 seats in the upper house of the Parliament.
Meanwhile, the PML-N holds 17 Senate seats and it will surge to 19 if it bags the two seats in today’s by-elections.
In an earlier contest for a Senate seat last month, PTI nominee Dr Shahzad Waseem had defeated PML-N’s Khwaja Ahmed Hassan. Waseem had secured 181 out of 351 votes while Hassan secured 169 votes with the help of the PPP.
