PPP's surprise win on 12 Senate seats steals opponents' thunder

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) that had majority in the upper house of Parliament until Saturday’s Senate election surprisingly clinched 12 seats amid allegations of horse-trading.

The PPP secured 10 out of 12 seats from Sindh where it enjoys majority and surprisingly won one general seat and one seat reserved for women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where it has total six MPAs.

According to unofficial results, the  candidates who remained successful on 52 Senate seats included 15 backed by the ruling PML-N, 12 PPP candidates, 10 independent, six PTI, two candidates of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Fazl and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party.  Whereas, MQM, Jamaat-i-Islami and PML-F could bag one seat each.

The PML-N backed candidates clinched 11 out of total 12 seats from Punjab and lost one seat to Pakistan Tehreek-Insaf (PTI) leader Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar. The ruling party bagged two more seats from the federal capital and two from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

PML-N backed independent candidate Mushahid Hussain Syed secured 223 votes for Senate’s technocrat seat from the federal capital against Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) candidate Raja Shakeel, who bagged 68 votes from the members of National Assembly.

Asad Junejo, having backing of PML-N, won the second seat for Islamabad after receiving 214 votes against 32 votes to Imran Ashraf and Kanwal Shozab respectively.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had declared the PML-N Senate candidates as independent in the aftermath of the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s ruling over the petitions challenging the Election Act 2017, which removed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif as the party president.

The Muttahida Qauami Movement (MQM) could bag only one seat despite having 37 seats in the Sindh Assembly.

After the election, the strength of PML-N senators in the upper house has increased to 33, paving the way for it to get the coveted office of Senate chairman along with the support of its allies.