Stage Is Set For The Senate Elections On 52 Seats That Will Be Held Tomorrow (saturday) And Major Players Particularly The Pml-n Is Desperate To Bag Maximum Number Of Seats To Win The All Important Slot Of Senate Chairman Which Was Denied To It By The Smart Move By Ppp Chairman Asif Ali Zardari Last Time When He Roped In Jui(f) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman By Offering Him The Post Of Deputy Chairman
Islamabad: (Pakistan Point News - 02nd Mar, 2018) : Stage Is Set For The Senate Elections On 52 Seats That Will Be Held Tomorrow (saturday) And Major Players Particularly The Pml-n Is Desperate To Bag Maximum Number Of Seats To Win The All Important Slot Of Senate Chairman Which Was Denied To It By The Smart Move By Ppp Chairman Asif Ali Zardari Last Time When He Roped In Jui(f) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman By Offering Him The Post Of Deputy Chairman.
At Least 135 Candidates Are Contesting For The Positions In The Upper House. Twelve Senators Each From Punjab And Sindh, (Pakistan Point news - 02nd Mar, 2018) Stage is set for the Senate elections on 52 seats that will be held tomorrow (Saturday) and major players particularly the PML-N is desperate to bag maximum number of seats to win the all important slot of senate Chairman which was denied to it by the smart move by PPP chairman Asif Ali Zardari last time when he roped in JUI(F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman by offering him the post of Deputy Chairman.
At least 135 candidates are contesting for the positions in the Upper House. Twelve Senators each from Punjab and Sindh, 11 members each from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, four lawmakers from FATA, and two members from the Federal capital will be elected. Three parties ruling Federation, Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa are certain to grab maximum number of seats in their respective territory. Howoever there are apprehensions of horse trading particularly in Balochistan, FATA and KPK.
A clear picture has not emerged as to what way the Balochistan young chief minister Abdul Qadoos Bizenjo would move as he is keeping his cards closed to chest. A majority in the upper house would enable the PML-N to make amendments in the constitution that it has been aspiring for quite some time. Political observers say that new methods have been introduced to photograph the Senate Ballot papers. Though mobile phones are banned at the polling stations, but there are cameras inside watches and ball pens and those going to sell their votes would have to prove through photograph that they have voted for a particular candidate.
Polling process will start from 9am and continued till 4pm. The Election Commission of Pakistan, in a review meeting, has taken several decisions to ensure vote privacy during the elections. The Commission decided that returning officers will ensure that no voter exposes his vote's privacy and neither be allowed to take issued ballot paper outside the polling station and in case of non-compliance the returning officer will cancel the ballot paper of such persons.
It was also decided that all returning officers will have powers of full magistrate and they can suspend the electoral process by bringing such elements to ECP's notice in case of irregularity. Rangers or FC personnel will also be deputed outside the polling stations. 52 Senators are retiring on March 11. Prominent among those who are retiring include Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Leader of the Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan, Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Farhatullah Babar, Azam Swati, Kamran Michael, Shahi Syed, Kamil Ali Agha, Talha Mehmood, Tahir Hussain Mash hadi, Nasreen Jalil and Ilyas Bilour.
Eighteen of the 52 senators belong to the Pakistan People Party Parliamen tarians (PPP-P), nine to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), five are from the Awami National Party (ANP), four each belong to Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), three to Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), two to Balochistan National Party-A (BNP-A), and one each to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F).
Five independents are also set to complete their tenure, according to the Senate website. The PML-Q will have no representation in the house after this month as all its four senators will retire. The senators from Punjab who are retiring are: M. Hamza (PML-N), Kamil Ali Agha (PML-Q), Muhammad Mohsin Khan Leghari independent), Muhammad Zafarullah Khan Dhandla (PML-N), Saud Majeed (PML-N) in place of Malik Rafique Rajwana, Sardar Zulfikar Khosa (PML-N), Asif Saeed Kirmani (PML-N) in place of Dr Babar Awan, Aitzaz Ahsan (PPP-P), Moham mad Ishaq Dar (PML-N), Khalida Parveen (PPP-P), Nuzhat Sadiq (PML-N) and Kamran Micheal (PML-N).
