Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Saturday revealed that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has issued tickets to 20 candidates to contest Senate election, scheduled to be held on March 3.

The ruling party’s Parliamentary Board, which met in Islamabad on Saturday with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair, finalised the list of the Senate candidates.

Sharing the list of candidates, the federal minister in his tweet disclosed that Dr Hafeez Shaikh and Fauzia Arshad would contest Senate elections from the federal capital.

From Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Shibli Faraz, Mohsin Aziz, Zeeshan Khanzada, Faisal Saleem and Najibullah Khattak would contest on general seats while Dost Mohammad Mehsud and Dr Humayun Mohmand would contest on a technocrat seat.

Sania Nishtar and Falak Naz Chitrali would contest on women seats while Gurdeep Singh would contest on the minority seat, Chaudhry Fawad said.

https://twitter.com/fawadchaudhry/status/1360525734368972801

From Punjab, Saifullah Khan Niazi (North Punjab), Ejaz Ahmad Chaudahry (Central Punjab) and Aon Abbas Buppi (Southern Punjab) will contest on general seats. Ali Zafar would contest on Technocrat seat while Dr Zarqa would contest on women seat.

From Sindh, Faisal Vawda would contest on general seat while Saifullah Abro on technocrat seat while from Balochistan, Abdul Qadir would contest the election, the federal minister shared.

Two key aides of Prime Minister Imran Khan could not get the PTI tickets for the upcoming Senate elections as the party issued the final list of its candidates for the March 3 polls.

The ruling party’s Parliamentary Board did not approve the names of Babar Awan, Shahzad Akbar, Amir Mughal and Sajjad Turi as the candidates for the hotly contested elections.

Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz has said democracy derived strength from free, fair and transparent elections and opposition’s stance against open balloting in Senate election was illogical and beyond comprehension.

Talking to media persons after submitting his nomination papers for Senate election at Provincial Election Commission in Peshawar, he said the government was striving to devise an inclusive mechanism so that no one could dare to raise finger on credibility and impartiality of elections results in future.

He said free, fair and transparent elections provided moral ground to flourish democracy and strengthen democratic institutions and the government’s electoral reforms would help ensure credibility, impartiality and transparency of elections including senate polls.

Shibli said instead of supporting the government’s efforts to introduce electoral reforms, the opposition was creating hurdle by opposing open balloting in senate election, which tantamount to encourage horse-trading and corruption during the election process.

He said opposition parties including PPP and PML-N who ruled the country after 2008 and 2013 elections for 10 years had completely failed to prepare any mechanism for electoral reforms opening room for horse-trading, corruption and sale and purchase votes during senate elections.

The minister said opposition was still working against electoral reforms that were aimed to eliminate chances of corruption, sale and purchase of votes and horse trading in senate elections as being witnessed in the past.

Despite having power, influence and resources, he said the government had offered open balloting to opposition during senate polls to eliminate corruption and horse trading but response of opposition towards the key legislation was pathetic. “I ask a question how a political party having representation of few members in the parliament or a provincial assembly will secure a seat in senate election,” he said, adding opposition did not take lesson from the past and would try to purchase political loyalties in a bid to get representation in the upper house.

He put a question that whether people would make their children to become a role model like Prime Minister Imran Khan or want them to become Nawaz Sharif or Asif Zardari, adding every patriotic Pakistani would certainly like his children to follow the footprints of the prime minister who was the only leader having highest level of honesty, integrity and dedication to take the country’s to new height of prosperity.

Shibli said the government electoral reforms would open doors of elections for middle class and general strata besides professionals to actively to participate in the decision-making process and the country’s socioeconomic development.