To elect unopposed candidates from Sindh, negotiations with the allied parties are under way, said Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah while responding to journalists’ questions at the Election Commission of Pakistan’s provincial office.
Shah told the media that similar to the previous Senate elections, Sindh’s candidates would be elected unopposed this time around as well. During the past four years of the current government, he said, all the issues have been settled through reconciliation.
The provincial election commission has accepted the nomination papers of 15 candidates affiliated with different political parties for 12 seats up for grabs in the upcoming Senate elections.
However, nomination papers of Mangaldas Arwani of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML)-Likeminded were rejected because the candidate had failed to complete all legal formalities, whereas objections were also raised over the nomination papers of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)’s Ali Sher Zai.
Those who nomination papers were accepted included Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s Mian Raza Rabbani, Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Saeed Ghani and Dr Karim Khwaja; PML-Functional’s Syed Muzaffar Shah; MQM’s Mustafa Kamal, Nasreen Jalil and Dr Farooq Naseem; and Likeminded’s Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi.
On Thursday, when the scrutiny process of the nomination papers started, the chief minister, Assembly Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, Law Minister Ayaz Soomro, Local Government Minister Agha Siraj Durrani, Katchi Abadis & Spatial Development Minister Rafiq Engineer, and Dr Sikandar Mendhro were also present with their party’s candidates. On the other hand, MQM’s candidates arrived with their party leader Raza Haroon, whereas Functional’s candidates were accompanied by their party leader Jam Madad Ali.
For the technocrat seats, nomination papers of PPP’s Dr Karim Khwaja and MQM’s Dr Farooq Naseem were accepted, whereas for the reserved seats of women, nomination papers of Likeminded’s Yasmin Farrukh, PPP’s Sahar Kamran, and MQM’s Nasreen Jalil and Naila Latif were accepted.
