Senate elections are being held today in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. The polling process will continue until 5 PM in the Jirga Hall of the KP Assembly. An agreement had been reached between the government and the opposition for a 6-5 seat distribution formula for the 11 seats of the upper house.
According to details, due to the refusal of some disgruntled PTI members to withdraw, unopposed elections could not be held. PTI succeeded in convincing four disgruntled members late last night, but since Khurram Zeeshan did not withdraw, polling is taking place.
The Election Commission has issued a notification regarding the Senate elections. A total of 145 voters are exercising their right to vote for the 11 seats. For general seats, the government has fielded 4 candidates, while the opposition has fielded 3. On the women’s and technocrat seats, both sides have fielded 2 candidates each.
PTI’s candidates for the general seats are Murad Saeed, Faisal Javed, Mirza Afridi, and Pir Noorul Haq Qadri. For the women’s seat, Rubina Naz is PTI’s candidate, while Azam Swati is contesting for the technocrat seat.
From the opposition, the general seat candidates are Niaz Ahmad of PML-N, Talha Mehmood of PPP, and Atta-ul-Haq of JUI-F. For the women’s seat, PPP’s Rubina Khalid is contesting, while JUI-F’s Dilawar Khan is contesting for the technocrat seat.
In the provincial assembly, the government has the support of 92 members, while the opposition has 53. The Election Commission had postponed the elections scheduled for April 2, 2024, due to the assembly speaker not administering the oath to members elected on reserved seats, leaving the electoral college incomplete.
Meanwhile, on the occasion of the Senate elections, media has been barred from entering the assembly premises. Both public and private TV channels have not been allowed entry into the provincial assembly. According to the assembly’s security in-charge, the media ban was imposed by the Election Commission.
