Ruling alliance bags 5 out of 6 seats in Senate by-polls

Pakistan People’s Party has secured four seats while PML-N and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F bagged one each in the Senate by-elections today.

Polling for the by-elections for Senate seats from Islamabad, Balochistan and Sindh began at 9 am and continued till 4 pm.

Yousuf Raza Gilani, the joint candidate of the ruling coalition on the Islamabad seat, was re-elected as a senator on his own vacated seat.

A total of 301 members of the assembly casted their votes in the National Assembly. Yousuf Raza Gilani of the ruling coalition was declared successful in the seat of Islamabad. Yousuf Raza Gilani got 204 votes and Sunni Ittehad Council candidate Ilyas Mehrban got 88 votes.

Elections were completed for three vacant seats in the Senate from Balochistan, 61 votes were cast in the House of 65 members in the assembly. Mir Abdul Qudous Bizenjo of PPP bagged 23 votes, Dostin Domki of Pakistan Muslim League-N 17 and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F’s Abdul Shakoor got 16 votes.

Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Hydari who have joined the National Assembly after their success in the recent general elections are also among those who vacated their seats.

Similarly, Nisar Ahmad Khuhro and Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar were elected members of the Sindh Assembly, while Prince Ahmed Umar Ahmad Zai and Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti were elected members of the Balochistan Assembly.

It should be remembered that six seats of the Senate were vacant after the resignation of Yousaf Raza Gilani, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Hyderi, Nisar Khuhro, Jam Mehtab, Prince Ahmed Umar and Sarfaraz Bugti.