Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has got 15 unopposed elected members for the upper house in the next Senate polls. The PPP so far has succeeded in getting eight seats from Sindh, 4 from Punjab, and 3 from NWFP. The party is set to win another seat reserved for women from NWFP. Seven were elected unopposed for general seats in NWFP as three candidates withdrew their nomination forms.
Those elected unopposed in NWFP are Sardar Ali Khan, Waqar Ahmad Khan and Gulzar Ahmad Khan of PPP, Zahid Khan, Mohammad Adeel and Abdul Nabi Bangash of ANP and Ghulam Ali of JUI-F. Initially, 24 candidates had filed nominations for 11 vacant seats from the province. At last stage, there were 18 candidates. However, on Saturday three more withdrew their nominations. The withdrawal of the candidates paved way for unopposed election of the contestants.
The polling in NWFP Assembly will now be held only for two each reserve seats of technocrats and women. Those who are in the contest for the reserved seats of technocrats include Ubaidullah Anwar (JUI-F), Iqbal Zafar Jhagra (PML-N), Afrasiab Khattak (ANP), Ali Hussein, a joint candidate of PPP-Sherpao and PML-Q, and Ali Gohar an independent.
For the two reserved seats of women, the contest will be held among four women candidates Farhat Qamar Abbas (PPP), Farah Aqil Shah (ANP), Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli (PPP-Sherpao) and Shahida Akhtar Ali of JUI-F. The polling for all eleven seats will now be held only in Balochistan and federal capital Islamabad and FATA.