Polling for Senate elections ends, vote count underway

The lawmakers have voted for 37 vacant seats of the Senate

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Officials began counting the votes for high-stakes elections of the Senate that will determine control of the Upper House of the Parliament after voting ended through secret ballot in Parliament House and provincial assemblies of Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The lawmakers have voted for 37 vacant seats of the Senate as 11 Senators from the Punjab have been elected unopposed.

Two senators will be elected from the federal capital, eleven from Sindh and twelve each from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

PTI MNA Mian Shafiq Arain polled the first vote while Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda polled the second vote According to the code, the members of National Assembly are required to bring their secretariat cards along in order to cast votes.

Other prominent figures who have cast their votes so far include Prime Minister Imran Khan, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Speaker Asad Qaiser, Deputy Speaker National Assembly Qasim Khan Suri, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad, Minister for Communications Murad Saeed, Minister for Science Fawad Chaudhary and Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda.

From opposition benches, PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, BNP-M head Akhtar Mengal and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi have casted their votes.

ECP could reject Shehryar Afridi s vote after he signs ballot paper

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Shehryar Afridi could be rejected after he signed the ballot paper. He has requested the election commission to allow him to recast his vote.

ECP issues second ballot paper to Zardari after first one gets wasted

The election commission has issued a second ballot paper to former President Asif Ali Zardari after his first ballot got wasted.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari asked the commission to issue him another ballot paper as due to his hand tremors he made a mistake on his first one.

Election being held on 37 Senate seats

In the federal capital, Abdul Hafeez Sheikh of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) are vying for the general seat whilst for the women seat, Fauzia Arshad of PTI and Farzana Kausar of PML-N are in the field.

Twenty five candidates are in the field for twelve seats of Senate from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, twenty six from Balochistan and seventeen from Sindh province.

It merits a mention here that fifty-two senators in the house of 100 are set to retire on 11th of this month after completion of their six-year term.