The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday completed the scrutiny of the nomination papers of 43 candidates from Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and the nine candidates from federal capital for upcoming Senate elections to be held on March 05. According to ECP, the nomination papers of all the nine candidates were accepted without any objections. Out of total 43 candidates, the nomination papers of twenty candidates from FATA were accepted.
The candidates contesting Senate elections from Fata whose nomination papers have been accepted are: Saeed Anwer Mehsud, Abdul Raziq, Sajjad Hussain, Malik Noor Akbar, Tahir Iqbal Orakzai, Abbas Khan Afridi, Aurangzeb Khan, Nazir Khan, Muhammad Deen, Haji Khan, Momin Khan, Taj Muhammad Afridi, Shah Muhammad, Sanaullah Khan, Saifur Rehman, Baz Gul, Muhammad Tayyab, Malik Nadir Khan, Qismat Khan Wazir and Ainuddin Shakir.
The twenty candidates will now contest for four Senate seats for upper house of parliament. There are widespread reports that horse-trading will dominate the Senate elections. The sources privy to the development claimed the total price for election of a senator from FATA has gone up to Rs 400 million - a hefty amount that will determine the fate of the candidate aspiring for having a seat in the Senate.
There are total 184 candidates in the run for 52 vacant Senate seats. According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the 184 nominations for the Senate elections include regular and covering candidates that would be contesting elections on 33 general seats (seven each in the four provinces, four in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and one in the federal capital); nine seats reserved for women (two each in four provinces and one in the federal capital); eight seats reserved for technocrats (two each in the four provinces); and two non-Muslim reserved seats (one each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan).
The official data released by the ECP suggests that of 184 candidates, 43 candidates had submitted nomination papers for four FATA seats, 42 for 12 Balochistan seats, 37 for 12 seats of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 28 candidates for 11 seats of Sindh, 23 candidates for 11 seats of Punjab and nine candidates for two seats of the federal capital.
For the federal capital, nine candidates had submitted nomination papers and their nomination papers have been accepted by the ECP. There is one general seat and a women-reserved seat from federal capital. The four candidates in the run for the general seats are: Iqbal Zafar Jhagra of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Raja Imran Ashraf from Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians (PPPP), Syed Zulfiqar Ali from Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and PML-N's Chaudhry Ashraf Gujjar (covering candidate for Jhagra).
The five candidates in the run for women-reserved seat are: PML-N's Rahila Magsi, Nargis Faiz Malik from PPPP and MQM's Shumaila Shahab whereas PML-N's Nargis Nisar and MQM's Bisma Asif are covering candidates for Magsi and Shahab, respectively. For Punjab, 15 candidates are eyeing seven general seats, four candidates eyeing two women-reserved seats and two candidates eyeing two technocrat seats.
Among some prominent candidates for Senate for Punjab are: Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid from PML-N (general), PML-N's Mushahidullah Khan (general), PML-N's Lieutenant General Abdul Qayum (Retd) (general), PPPP's Nadeem Afzal Gondal (general), PML-N's Najma Hameed (women), PML-N's Raja Zafarul Haq (technocrat) and PML-N's Sajid Mir (technocrat).
The Senate elections would not be held on two non-Muslim reserved seats, one each in Punjab and Sindh, where Kamran Michael from PML-N and PPPP's Hari Ram would continue till their terms' completion in 2018. For Sindh, 18 candidates are eyeing seven general seats, six candidates eyeing two women seats and four candidates eyeing two technocrat seats. Prominent candidates are: PPPP's Saleem Mandvivala (general), MQM's Wasim Akhtar (general), MQM's Khushbakht Shujaat (general), MQM's Babar Ghauri (general), PML-N's Zafar Ali Shah (general), PPPP's Sassi Palijo (women), Khushbakht Shujaat (also for women seat), PPPP's Farooq H. Naek (technocrat) and Rehman Malik (technocrat).
For KP, 17 candidates are in run for seven general seats including Sirajul Haq from Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), PML-N's Lieutenant General Salahuddin Tirmazi (Retd). Samina Abid of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is contesting the seat reserved for women, while her covering candidate is Rabia Basra. Latif Yusufzai for Technocrat, Brigadier John Kenneth Williams (Retd); Ravi Kumar for Minority and Mohsin Aziz; Syed Shibli Faraz; Fazal Mohammad Khan; Barrister Salman Afridi to contest on general seats.
For Balochistan, of the 19 candidates contesting on seven general seats Ghafoor Haideri from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Hasil Bazinjo from National Party (NP), Sardar Yaqoob Nasir from PML-N and Jan Achakzai (independent) are prominent candidates for Senate polls.
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