MQM-P rejects reports of withdrawal from Senate polls

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) has rejected the media reports regarding withdrawal from the Senate polls on Sindh seat, ARY News reported on Thursday.

The MQM-P spokesperson said in a statement that the political party will contest Senate polls on Sindh seat on December 8. The political party has a working relation with the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) but it will contest the Senate elections.

Earlier today, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) decided to award a ticket to PPP-Sindh general secretary Waqar Mehdi for the election on Senate seat that fell vacant due to the resignation of Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar.

According to sources, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and former president Asif Ali Zardari have accorded approval and directed Waqar Mehdi to submit his nomination papers for the Senate election before ECP.

READ: ASIM HUSSAIN, MURTAZA WAHAB IN RUN FOR KHOKHAR’S SENATE SEAT

MQM-Pakistan, a key ally of the coalition government in Centre, will not field its candidate on Khokhar’s vacated Senate seat, they say.

The nomination papers for the election on the Senate seat from Sindh will be submitted to the returning officers (ROs) concerned from 18-22 November.

According to the ECP schedule, candidates can submit their nomination papers from November 18, after which the scrutiny of the papers will begin on November 25.

The list of candidates submitting papers will be released on November 23 and the nomination papers can be withdrawn till December 3.

The polling for the vacant seat will take place on December 8 in the Sindh Assembly.

On November 10, PPP’s Mustafa Nawaz Khokar formally resigned as a senator. “I have formally tendered my resignation today,” Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar earlier said in a social media statement. “I am thankful for the support and positive reaction from the party,” Khokhar stated in his resignation letter.