Federal and provincial lawmakers voted to elect over four dozen members of the upper house of parliament on Thursday in a vote ‘marred by controversies’ that resulted in a split mandate for PML-N and opposition PPP.
Incoming senators are to replace 52 lawmakers who are retiring on March 11 after completing their six-year constitutional term.
Controversy erupted when MPs from Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) agitated last minute changes in voting procedure for them through a presidential decree.
President Mamnoon Hussain issued the order late Wednesday night, restricting FATA MPs to cast one vote each, instead of four granted to them by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf (in 2002).
Punjab Assembly: PML-N stronghold
Unofficial results of Senate elections trickled in from Lahore. With PML-N sweeping all seats in Punjab, on-going rumours of ‘dissent’ came within the prime minister’s bastion.
K-P Assembly: A case of balloting
Accusations rained down with same fury inside the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly building as the downpour did outside on Thursday.
Senate polls were delayed for hours over rigging allegations by the opposition parties who claimed that lawmakers were taking ballot papers out of the Assembly’s premises to stamp them under the chief minister’s watch.
The polling process was put on hold around noon and finally resumed again at 4:15 pm, after the official time was over.
The ballot-casting time was extended to 8 pm resultantly. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf claimed opposition parties were throwing a spanner in the works to divert attention from their loss.
Opposition placed the blame on PTI, claiming its lawmakers were violating rules by taking the ballot papers outside.
Balochistan Assembly: Majority party faces humiliation
PML-N is the largest part in Balochistan Assembly, numerically. However, it’s senior vice president, Sardar Yaqoob Nasir, could not win a seat in Thursday’s Senate elections.
Having support of 28 legislators in the 65-member house, the party could only grab three seats. The National Party (NP) and Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) won three seats each, whilst having 11 and 14 MPAs respectively in the provincial legislature.
Sindh Assembly: PPP and MQM in lead
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) emerged triumphant on Thursday after bagging all the seven Senate seats in Sindh.
PPP picked up five seats while MQM bagged two. Both parties notched up the required votes with the help of five ‘unidentified’ opposition lawmakers and two MPAs from the National Peoples Party (NPP), another opposition group that is allegedly joining the PPP-led government in Sindh.