Senate election: PPP likely to sweep Sindh amid PTI boycott

KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is likely to bag 10 Senate seats from Sindh out of the 12 as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) announced a boycott of the Senate election slated for April 2, ARY News reported, citing sources.

Sources in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said that all 12 Senators from Sindh will be elected unopposed as the PTI was the only party that was contesting the election against the PPP.

PTI leader Haleem Adil Sheikh announced the boycott, saying that the PTI could elect four Senators from the province if the party had been given its mandate in the February 8 election.

While announcing that the PTI candidates would not contest the Senate election, he said that all current governments were fake.

With the PTI’s boycott, PPP is likely to secure as many as 10 seats from Sindh in the upcoming Senate election along with one Senator of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P). Faisal Vawda is also likely to be elected unopposed in the election.

It is pertinent to mention that members of the four provincial assemblies will elect Senators for seven general seats, two women seats, and two seats for technocrats including Ulema from each province, as well as one seat for non-Muslims from both Punjab and Sindh provinces.

On March 11, the ECP issued a schedule for elections on 48 vacant seats of the Senate, according to which polling will be held on the second of next month from 9 am to 4 pm.

In the federal capital, members of the National Assembly will elect members of the Senate against one general seat and one seat for technocrats including Ulema.

The electoral watchdog said that the election will not be carried out on four seats reserved for the erstwhile tribal areas. “These seats have been abolished after the merger of tribal areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) under the 25th Amendment of the Constitution,” an ECP statement read.