PTI, opposition parties in talks for Senate polls in KP

PESHAWAR: The ruling political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and opposition parties held talks for holding ‘unopposed’ Senate elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) just like in Punjab, citing sources, ARY News reported on Friday.

The provincial ministers of the ruling PTI in KP have contacted parliamentary leaders of the opposition parties including Awami National Party (ANP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F), sources told ARY News.

They mulled over implementing the formula of proportional representation of the political parties in the Senate. Sources added that PTI offered giving two general seats to the opposition in the Senate.

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Shaukat Yousafzai confirmed that the opposition leaders have been contacted to hold unopposed Senate polls. He said that Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) are creating hurdles to hold unopposed Upper House polls.

Earlier in the day, KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan chaired a session of PTI parliamentarians which was attended by the Senate candidates Shibli Faraz, Dr Sania Nishtar and others. The lawmakers were briefed over the voting process of the Senate in the session.

Prior to chairing the session, KP CM Mahmood Khan also consulted the governor. Sources said that the parliamentarians will take oaths to cast votes for their own candidates.

Read: ECP issues revised list of Senate candidates from Sindh

The KP chief minister will also assign duties to the group of parliamentarians for the upcoming Senate polls.

Yesterday, it emerged that all the Senate election candidates contesting for general, technocrat and women’s reserved seats were elected unopposed in Punjab.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Syed Ali Zafar and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Azam Nazir Tarar elected unopposed from Punjab for the technocrat’s seats, according to sources.

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PTI’s Dr Zarqa and PML-N’s Sadia Abbasi were elected unopposed for the women’s seats. However, Sajid Mir, Irfanul Haq Siddiqui, Ejaz Chaudhary, Aown Abbas, Saifullah Sarwar Khan Niazi, Kamil Ali Agha and Late Mushahid Ullah Khan’s son Afnan Ullah Khan also won the Senate elections unopposed.

Election commission sources said that a notification in this regard will be issued tomorrow.

Sources added that the Punjab Assembly speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi played a key role in the seat adjustments for the Senate election. Pervaiz Elahi contacted the leadership of PPP and PML-N for the seat adjustments.