Hafeez Shaikh's nomination for Senate seat challenged

ISLAMABAD: A petition challenging Finance Minister Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh’s nomination for a Senate seat was filed with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday.

Shahid Orakzai filed the petition, requesting the court to reject the minister’s nomination papers for the Senate polls.

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In his petition, he asked whether a federal minister could contest the Senate elections under Article 91 of the Constitution. He said Mr Shaikh’s appointment was also challenged in the Lahore High Court (LHC).

On Feb 17, the ECP accepted the finance minister’s nomination papers for a Senate seat from Islamabad.

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The ruling PTI has fielded maximum candidates for the upcoming Senate elections scheduled to be held on March 03. Ruling PTI have overall 52 candidates for the election of the upper house of the parliament.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has awarded tickets to 19 party candidates and the People’s Party with 18 candidates remained second and third in the number of candidates.