- Chairman-hopeful Gilani will run in Islamabad against Mehrban, supported by the PTI.
- parliamentarians in Balochistan will choose three senators, and KP will choose two.
- On April 21, there will be by-elections in 23 NA provincial assembly constituencies.
ISLAMABAD: Today’s by-election for the six open seats in the upper house of parliament will be conducted by National Assembly legislators and MPAs from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Five seats, two from Sindh and three from Balochistan, were empty after the incumbents were elected to the national and provincial assembly, in addition to one from Islamabad.
Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, the head of the PPP, is running for office in order to reclaim the seat from Islamabad, which became open after he was elected as an MNA in the general elections on February 8. Polling for Mr. Gilani’s one-on-one contest against Chaudhry Ilyas Mehrban of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) will take place in the National Assembly hall from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Due to Article 223 of the Constitution, which prohibits dual membership, these six seats had become empty. According to its sub-section 4, a member of the legislature or a provincial assembly may run for a second seat, but he may not hold both seats at the same time. In that case, the member’s first seat will become empty upon his election to the second seat.
According to the power-sharing arrangement that the PPP and the PML-N agreed upon in order to form a government, Mr. Gilani, who voted for PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif during the prime minister’s race on March 3 and took an oath of office as an MNA on February 29 after winning the NA seat from Multan, is expected to lead the Senate going forward.
Gilani wants the top spot.
The fact that no one from the PML-N filed papers to oppose Mr. Gilani lends credibility to allegations that he is the nominee of the newly established eight-party ruling coalition for the top Senate position, even though this has not been officially announced. The PML-N could have easily won the Senate seat from Islamabad because it has an overwhelming majority in the National Assembly, where voting for the election will take place. In reaction to the JUI-F’s announcement that it will endorse Mr. Gilani in Islamabad, the PPP has declared that it will back the party’s nominees in the Balochistan Assembly.
Chaudhry Veteran PTI member Ilyas Mehrban fought for the National Assembly seat from Islamabad in the 2013 elections, but Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry of the PML-N defeated him.
Balochistan and KP seats
Following the resignation of PPP members Nisar Khuhro and Jam Mehtab Dahar, who had previously been elected to the Sindh Assembly, the seats in that assembly became empty. Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, who was elected to the National Assembly, and Sarfraz Bugti and Prince Ahmed Omar, who were elected to the Balochistan Assembly, are among the other winners on the list.
After taking office as interim interior minister in August of last year, Mr. Bugti resigned in December of that same year to run for the provincial assembly seat. He now serves as the chief minister of Balochistan.
Senate dysfunctional
The Senate has a total of 100 members, consisting of four senators from the former Fata and Islamabad and 23 members from each of the four federating regions.
A province is allotted 23 seats, of which 14 are general seats, 4 are reserved for women, 4 are for technocrats, and 1 is for a member of a minority group. Half of the Senate’s members retired on March 11 after serving six-year terms, which has already led to disarray in the chamber.
In light of this, the Pakistani Election Commission released a schedule for the election of 48 new senators, including two from Islamabad, two minority members from Punjab and Sindh, and eleven each from each of the four provinces for the general and technocrat seats. On April 2, voting will take place in the NA and the four provincial legislatures.
April 21: 23-seat by-election
On the other side, the election monitor reports that a by-election for 23 national and provincial assembly seats will take place on April 21.
In addition to the six seats in the National Assembly, elections will be held in 17 provincial assembly constituencies. These include 12 in Punjab, 2 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, and 1 in Sindh.
On March 15, the returning officers will publish notices informing the public. Three days later, nomination papers can be submitted.
President Asif Ali Zardari, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur have won five of the six National Assembly seats for which by-polls are scheduled.
After winning the NA-207 (Shaheed Benazirabad) seat, President Zardari was forced to resign from it due to Article 43(2) of the Constitution, which states that the president cannot run for office to serve as a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (parliament) or a provincial assembly. Additionally, if a member is already serving, their seat in parliament will become vacant the day they take office.
NA-196 Kambar Shahdadkot and NA-194 (Larkana) seats went to PPP Chairman Bilawal. He made the decision to hold onto his Larkana seat, and NA-196 would host the byelection. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has kept his position in Punjab’s NA-123 (Lahore) assembly, having won two seats in the National Assembly and one in the Provincial Assembly. There will be by-elections in PP-158 (Lahore) and NA-132 (Kasur).
In Lahore, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has secured seats in the national and provincial assemblies. She kept her position in PP-159, hence a by-election will now be held in her former seat in NA-119. In Dera Ismail Khan, KP CM Ali Amin Gandapur also prevailed, winning PK-113 and NA-44.
He kept his position in the provincial parliament, and the NA-44 seat that was left vacant is currently available. Polls in PK-22 (Bajaur) and NA-8 (Bajaur) were delayed because a rival candidate passed away; these seats are also up for grabs. Kohat’s PK-91 will also hold elections.
The Punjab by-elections will be held in twelve constituencies: PP-22 (Chakwal-Talagang), PP-32 (Gujarat), PP-36 (Wazirabad), PP-54 (Narowal), PP-93 (Bhakkar), PP-139 (Sheikhupura), PP-147 (Lahore), PP-149 (Lahore), PP-158 (Lahore), PP-164 (Lahore), PP-266 (Rahim Yar Khan) and PP-290 (Dera Ghazi Khan).
Additionally, elections are scheduled for PS-80 (Dadu) in Sindh, PB-20 (Khuzdar), and PB-22 (Lasbela) in Balochistan.
