Consultations for PTI candidates of Senate elections concluded

ISLAMABAD: The parliamentary board of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has concluded its consultation process for the names of candidates for upcoming Senate elections.

A session of PTI parliamentary board was chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan which mulled over the names of candidates for Senate polls.

It has been decided to issue party tickets to the candidates for Upper House polls on the basis of merit instead of adopting the traditional procedure.

Read: PM forms committee to probe against Senate horse-trading in 2018

During the session, PM Imran Khan said that they are ending the culture of vote-trading in Senate elections and those persons capable to represent the political party in the Upper House will be issued party ticket for senatorship.

He was of the view that those spending money for being elected in the House will never care about the public interest. The premier expressed hopes for getting a majority in the Upper House of the Parliament and organisation of transparent elections.

In a Twitter message, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry said that PTI has finalised names of the candidates for most seats of Senate.

تحرک انصاف نے سینٹ کی زیادہ تر نشستوں پر اپنے امیدواروں کے نام فائنل کر لئے ہیں اسلام آباد سے عبدالحفیظ شیخ اور فوزیہ ارشد تحریک انصاف کی امیدوار فائنل کی گئ ہیں۔۔

— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) February 12, 2021

He said that the names of Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and Fouzia Arshad were finalised for the seats from Islamabad, whereas, Faisal Vawda will contest the polls from Sindh seat. On technocrat seat, Abdul Qadir’s name was finalised and Saifullah Niazi, Dr Zarqa, Barrister Ali Zafar will be the candidates from Punjab.

The names of Shibli Faraz, Mohsin Aziz and Dost Mohammad have been finalised for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) seats. The other candidates include Sania Nishtar and Farzana.

Read: PPP shortlists candidates for upcoming Senate elections

Chaudhry added that the final announcement regarding the remaining candidates from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is due to be made by the PTI leadership.

A total of forty-eight senators will be elected this time including twelve each from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan, eleven each from Punjab and Sindh and two from Islamabad.

On Thursday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had unveiled the schedule for the Senate elections in the four provinces. The polling to elect legislators for the upper house of the parliament will be held on March 3. 48 lawmakers of the Senate will retire on March 3.