Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) backed independent candidates on Saturday emerged victorious in the Senate elections for Islamabad’s two seats, according to unofficial results of the polls.

Former minister for information & broadcasting Mushahid Hussain Syed and son of former prime minister Muhammad Khan Junejo, Asad Ali Khan Junejo, won the elections with clear majority on one technocrat and one general seat. Mushahid Hussain Syed secured 223 votes on technocrat seat while Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidate Raja Shakil Abbasi stood runner up by securing 64 votes. Thirteen votes were rejected by the officials.

Asad Khan Junejo succeeded on the general seat of Islamabad by securing 214 votes. Raja Imran Ashraf of PPP got 45 votes while Kanwal Shozef of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) got 32 votes. Nine votes were rejected.

As many as 300 MNAs cast votes for each of the general and technocrat seats from Islamabad.

For the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), PML-N’s Abbas Afridi Group won all four seats. According to unofficial results, Shamim Afridi, Mirza Afridi, Hilalur Rehman and Hidayatullah were declared the returning candidates. The winning candidates received seven votes each.

According to reports, Shahbuddin of the PML-N boycotted the Senate election, alleging that millions of rupees were being spent for purchasing votes in FATA. Five candidates contested for two seats from the federal capital while 24 candidates were in the run for four FATA seats.

At the National Assembly hall, which was declared the polling station for the Senate election, the polling process started exactly at 9am with speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq being the first in the line to cast his vote. Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi also cast his vote. On the occasion, he also had an informal exchange of views with party candidates and the MNAs. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had declared the PML-N nominees for the Senate election as independent candidates in the aftermath of the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s ruling over the petitions challenging the Elections Act, 2017, which removed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif as the party president.

The election process completed smoothly and no untoward incident was reported on the occasion.

The ECP had issued a code of conduct to ensure free and fair elections for the Upper House of parliament, violation of which might attract a fine of up to Rs 100,000 and imprisonment term of up to two years.

The code of conduct barred the members from carrying mobile phones inside the polling stations, while only those assembly members were allowed inside who had their secretariat cards with them.

The returning officer had been given the authority of level one magistrate under which he or she was empowered to announce a punishment immediately after carrying out a summary trial against the violators.

The returning officer also had the authority to cancel a ballot paper and immediately announce a punishment if it was found being handed to an unauthorised person. The punishment for violating the code of conduct included a fine of up to Rs 100,000 and/or a jail term of six months to two years.

Published in Daily Times, March 4^th 2018.