In the closely-watched elections to Upper House of Parliament held on Friday, the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) successfully raised the number of its senators from 27 to 41. According to unofficial results, PPP clinched 19 seats, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) remained the second largest winning party with 14 senators after winning eight seats, while Awami National Party (ANP) stood third by winning six seats to increase its number of Senators to 12.
MQM bagged four seats, boosting its strength to seven; Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) grabbed four seats, raising its number of seats to five; Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) secured four seats, expanding its strength to seven senators.
BNP-Awami made its strength to four by securing two seats, PML-F and National Party also managed to get one seat each. Twelve independent candidates were declared successful. They included four from Fata. The senators who had already been elected unopposed include Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan (PPP), Ishaq Dar (PML-N), Mushahid Hussain Sayed (PML-Q), Osman Saifullah Khan (PPP), Nuzhat Sadiq (PML-N), Kalida Parveen (PPP), Kamran Michael (PML-N), Abdul Hafeez Shaikh (PPP) and Dr Muhammad Farogh Naseem (MQM). The elections for Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) were held in Islamabad from which Saleh Shah, Najmul Hassan and Hidayatullah emerged as successful, with five votes each as per unofficial results. For the fourth candidate, lady luck favoured Hilalur Rehman, who emerged victorious after a random draw as he and Ehdul Malik Qadri had secured four votes each.
BALOCHISTAN Hafiz Ahmadullah (JUI-F), Mufti Abdul Sattar (JUI-F), Humayun Das (JUI-F), Nawazada Saifullah Magsi (PPP), Sardar Fateh Muhammad Hasni (PPP), Yousaf Baloch (PPP), Razi Khan (PPP), Saeedul Hasan Mandokhel (PML-Q), Rubina Irfan (PML-Q), Dawood Khan (ANP), Mir Isarullah Zehri (BNP-Awami) and Nasima Ahsan (BNP-Awami) were declared successful, according to unofficial results.
PUNJAB Eight candidates of three parties were in the run for seven general seats. Muhammad Hamza (PML-N)‚ Sardar Zulfikar Ali Khan Khosa (PML-N)‚ Muhammad Zafarullah Khan (PML-N)‚ Malik Muhammad Rafiq Rajwana (PML-N)‚ Babar Awan (PPP)‚ Kamil Ali Agha (PML-Q) and Muhammad Mohsin Khan Leghari (Independent) were declared successful.
KHYBER-PAKHTUNKHWA Ilyas Ahmed Bilour (ANP), Farhatullah Babar (PPP) were elected on technocrats' seats, while Zahida Khan (ANP) and Robina Khalid (PPP) made it to the senate on seats reserved for women. Amarjeet Malhotra (ANP) was elected on a seat reserved for minorities.
SINDH The candidates who have been elected on general seats in Sindh include Syed Mustafa Kamal (MQM)‚ Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi (MQM)‚ Saeed Ghani (PPP)‚ Mukhtar Ahmed Dhamra alias Ijaz (PPP)‚ Mian Raza Rabbani (PPP)‚ Dr Karim Ahmed Khawaja (PPP) and Muzaffar Hussain Shah (PML(F). Nasrin Jalil (MQM) and Mudassir Sehar Kamran (PPP) emerged victorious on women's seats. Pari Ram (PPP) was elected on minorities' seats, defeating her opponent Phatomal.
A total 98 candidates were in the run for 45 Senate seats. The allied parties of ruling PPP emerged with a total strength of 70 members excluding senators belonging to Fata - paving a way for two-thirds majority in the Upper House of Parliament.
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SENATE ELECTIONS 2012
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Party Before After
PPPP 27 41
PML-N 07 14
PML-Q 21 05
MQM 08 07
JUI-F 04 07
ANP 08 12
BNP-A 02 04
PML-F 01 01
NP 01 01
IND 18 12
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