Voting for Senate elections is under way in KP Assembly

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly has begun the voting process to elect 11 members of the Senate, following a political twist that saw 25 opposition lawmakers take oath at the Governor House.

Polling commenced at 11:00 AM, with the Jirga Hall of the KP Assembly designated as the official polling station, 24NewsHD TV channel reported on Monday.

In this connection, foolproof security arrangements have been made as the federal government has ordered the deployment of Federal Constabulary.

It merits mention here that four disgruntled PTI leaders namely Waqas, Irfan Salim, Ayesha Bano Orakzai and Irshad Hussain who earlier wanted to contest the elections as independent candidates have pulled out of the race.  

On Sunday evening, 25 opposition lawmakers elected on reserved seats in the KP Assembly took their oaths — not in the provincial legislature but at the Governor House in Peshawar.

With the induction of these new MPAs, the KP Assembly now finally stands fully constituted almost one and a half years after the February 8, 2024 general elections.

The oath-taking of these MPAs has also paved the way for Senate elections for 11 seats that will be held at the provincial assembly today.

The contest includes seven general seats, along with two seats each for women and technocrats, for which a total of 16 candidates are in the running.

The Senate elections, being conducted under the supervision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), will allow each MPA to cast three votes.

One of the ballot papers — the white one — will be for general seats. The green ballot paper will be for technocrat seats and the pink ballot paper will be for women seats

To win one of the seven general seats, a candidate will need 19 votes. For the four seats reserved for women and technocrats, each candidate will require 49 votes to be successful.

The government and the opposition, through mutual consultation, have jointly fielded 11 candidates — six backed by the government and five by the opposition.

A code of conduct has been issued for political parties, candidates, election agents and voters. The voters will not be able to take cellphones or any other electronic gadget inside the polling station. 

Similarly, taking photographs of the ballot paper is also strictly prohibited. 

Polling begins in Punjab Assembly

The polling process for a vacant senate seat started in Punjab Assembly (PA) on scheduled time of 9:00 am in Lahore on Monday.

According to a PA spokesperson, it will continue uninterrupted till 4:00 pm. Punjab Election Commissioner Sharifullah was presiding the election process and the Punjab Assembly hall has been declared as a polling station.

Total number of seats in Punjab Assembly were 371 out of which two are vacant seats.

Almost 184.5 votes were required to win senate seat. PML-N candidate for vacant Senate seat is Hafiz Abdul Karim and opposition candidate is Mehar Abdul Sattar.

Independent candidates were Eijaz Hussain Minhas and Khadija Siddiqui.

The seat fell vacant following the demise of Senator Sajid Mir.

The PML-N has completed its strategy to win the seat as it has directed all members of the Punjab Assembly (MPAs), belonging to the party, to ensure their presence.

KP Opposition MPAs sworn in

Twenty-five MPAs-elect belonging to KP Opposition were sworn into office on Sunday after KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi administered the oath to them.

Earlier in the day, they could not take their oaths on reserved seats due to a lack of quorum in the provincial assembly.

Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court (PHC) had nominated the governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to administer the oath.

KP Speaker Babar Saleem Swati did not administer the oath during the assembly session today and adjourned the session until 24th July without taking any action on the issue of quorum.

Earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) wrote another letter to the Registrar of Peshawar High Court regarding the oath-taking on reserved seats of the KP Assembly.

On Sunday morning, the KP Assembly session adjourned shortly after it began due to lack of quorum, and 25 members could not take oath on reserved seats. The quorum was pointed out by PTI member Sher Ali Afridi, and the opposition protested.

Speaker Babar Saleem Swati said that the number of opposition members is 25, so the quorum is not complete. The speaker rang the bells, but the members did not come to the house, after which he adjourned the session until July 24.

Reporters: Usman Khan, Bilal Niazi and Hassan Ali