All KP Senate seats 'decided' unopposed after mutual agreement

PESHAWAR: All candidates in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senate elections have been elected unopposed following a mutual agreement between the provincial government and opposition, ARY News reported citing sources.

According to sources, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) resolved its internal disputes over covering candidates, with all dissenting PTI candidates withdrawing their nomination papers.

The election results align with a pre-agreed formula, allocating six Senate seats to PTI and five to the opposition. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) will each secure two seats, while the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will gain one seat.

In a meeting of PTI’s core and political committees, the party finalized its Senate candidates and approved their names.

The selected candidates include Murad Saeed, Faisal Javed, Mirza Khan Afridi, and Noor-ul-Haq Qadri for general seats, Rubina Naz for the women’s seat, Azam Swati for the technocrat seat, and Mishal Yousafzai for the seat vacated by Sania Nishtar.

Sheikh Waqas Akram stated that the committees, following directives from Imran Khan deliberated on whether the elections should be contested or unopposed.

He said that the Imran Khan instructed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa parliamentary party to make a collective decision through consultation.

Consequently, the parliamentary party unanimously agreed to conduct the Senate elections unopposed to ensure transparency, and the political committee decided to withdraw the nomination papers of all remaining candidates.

Related: PTI Rift Over Senate Tickets Deepens as Barrister Saif Threatens to Resign

The development came after deep divisions emerged within the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over the controversial distribution of Senate election tickets, with party organizers threatening protests if their demands are not met.

PTI’s organizational office-bearers publicly demanded that Irfan Saleem be awarded the Senate ticket from Peshawar. At a press conference, they warned that failure to fulfill this demand would result in demonstrations outside the Provincial Assembly, the Chief Minister’s House, and the residences of sitting MPAs.