Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Friday decided to introduce new faces from the lower rank of the party in the upcoming Senate election due in March 2012, reliable sources within PPP told Business Recorder.
This decision was taken in a high level meeting held at Bilawal House Karachi before the 4th death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto. Political analysts also see this fresh move as a positive development, which might prove helpful in campaigning for the general elections due in 2013.
The PPP had taken same decision in 2009, when Makhdoom Amin Fahim had not been made Prime Minister despite the announcement made by Asif Ali Zardari and Senate tickets were given to Moula Bux Chandio a party worker from Hyderabad and Almas Parvin a die-hard worker of PPP from Lyari, Karachi.
The major ruling party PPP has formally asked its party members to apply for the upcoming Senate elections due in March next year. The party Secretary General Jahangir Badar asked applicants to apply in writing by January 10, 2012, along with a draft of Rs 30,000 to the party's central secretariat in Islamabad.
The Senate elections are due in March, 50 members of the Senate, including 11 from Sindh, will complete their six-year term on March 11, 2012 and an election on the vacant seats is scheduled to be held on the following day. The vacant 50 seats will have to be filled through a special election process in accordance with the law and the Constitution.
The new senators will be elected by the members of the present assemblies. According to the sources, senior party leaders and workers including male and female at District and Taulka level from all over the country have applied for the senate tickets and submitted applications at party's central secretariat in Islamabad.
There are over 20 senators of PPP, enjoying the seats in the Upper House of Parliament including Chairman Senate Farooq H Naek, Syed Nayyer Hussein Bokhari (Leader of the House), Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Federal Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Minister for Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain, Minister for Law Moula Bux Chandio, Gul Muhammad Lot, Islam-u-Din Shaikh, Mian Raza Rabbani, Syed Faisal Raza Abidi, Dr Babar Awan, Jehangir Bader, Syeda Sughra Imam, Ratna Bhagwandas Chawla, Mir Lashkari Raisani, Almas Parveen Dr Safdar Ali Abbasi and others. The PPP hi-ups had suspended the CEC's membership of Senator Safdar Abbasi but he was earlier made Senator on the party ticket.