Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won both Senate seats from Punjab after a neck and neck contest with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Thursday. The polling for one general and one seat reserved for women was held from 9am to 4pm at the Punjab Assembly which was declared a polling station by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The two seats from Punjab had fallen vacant after the disqualification of PML-N senators Haroon Akhtar and Sadia Abbasi for possessing dual nationalities. Waleed Iqbal, the grandson of Allama Iqbal, was elected on the PTI ticket from Punjab by getting 184 votes, defeating PML-N’s Chaudhry Saud Majeed who bagged 176 votes. Seven votes were declared invalid. PTI candidate Seemi Aizidi, who is the sister of Jehangir Tareen, clinched the seat reserved for women by securing 183 votes against PML-N’s Saira Afzal Tarrar who could get 175 votes, while nine votes were declared invalid. There are 369 members in the Punjab Assembly right now against its original strength of 371 as two seats are still lying vacant. As many as 367 votes were cast on Thursday as Sohail Shukat Butt of the PML-N and Sardar Awais Dareshak of the PTI didn’t cast their votes. The victory of PTI’s candidates with a margin of eight votes has raised alarm bells for the PTI-led coalition government in Punjab as the ruling alliance has the support of 195 MPAs in the House but its candidates couldn’t bag the votes according to party strength in the Punjab Assembly. Whereas, the PML-N, which has 167 MPAs in the House, got more votes than its strength, along with support of seven MPAs of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Talking to Daily Times, MPA Azma Bukhari, who was polling agent of PML-N for the Senate election, said, “All the tall claims of our opponents have collapsed today … they have been claiming that there are rifts within PML-N but our party is still intact as is evident after today’s election results.” “The ruling alliance has the majority of just eight votes in the House as is evident by the results … their majority is shrinking day by day as their candidate won the last Senate election with a lead of 12 votes which has decreased to eight votes just in a month,” she said. It is worth mentioning here that PTI’s Dr Shehzad Waseem had been elected senator in October by defeating PML-N’s Khawaja Ahmad Hassaan with a margin of 12 votes. After the victory of Waleed Iqbal and Seemi Aizidi, the PTI has now three senators in the Upper House from Punjab. Minister for Housing Mian Mehmood ur Rasheed told media outside the Punjab Assembly that his party would thoroughly investigate as to why a large number of votes were declared invalid in the elections. “The Senate elections are always very important and therefore rejection of votes should be investigated by the party as we had passed clear directions to our MPAs how to cast the votes,” he said. Published in Daily Times, November 16th 2018.