Senate elections: Voting underway for 37 seats of NA, assemblies

ISLAMABAD: Polling is underway for the 37 seats of the Senate, as lawmakers from the provincial assemblies of Pakistan and the National Assembly vote for the upper house elections.

Lawmakers will be casting votes in one of the country’s most hotly contested Senate elections where the transparency of the electoral process has become a key issue.

The MPs will be voting on 37 vacant seats of the Senate with 11 senators elected unopposed from Punjab. Now polling will be held for 12 seats each of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 11 of Sindh and two of the federal capital.

MPAs from the three provincial assemblies will cast their vote for the candidates fielded from Balochistan, KP and Sindh, while MNAs will choose the representative from the federal capital.

The results are expected to be announced at 6pm for Islamabad seats while in other assemblies the winning candidates would be announced around 7pm.

The government has been accusing the Opposition of being involved in illegal activity by using money to gain votes, while the Opposition is blaming the ruling PTI for raising the open ballot issue because it is not sure of its lawmakers’ loyalties.

The blame-game became intense Tuesday when a video of Ali Haider Gilani, son of Pakistan Democratic Movement’s Senate candidate Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, emerged in which he was allegedly telling the PTI MPAs how to discard votes.

The PPP leader, however, has admitted that he was in contact with the PTI members who had approached him to seek help.

Another audio of Sindh Minister Nasir Hussain Shah was widely shared on social media in which he was allegedly talking to PTI MPAs regarding the Senate election. The minister, however, has denied he ever talked to them and referred the matter to Ali Gilani.