Yousaf Raza Gilani defeats PTI’s Hafeez Shaikh in Senate elections
Islamabad
In a major upset in the Senate election, Yousaf Raza Gilani, the joint candidate of opposition parties, has been elected senator from Islamabad, by defeating Abdul Hafeez Shaikh of the ruling party, according to unofficial results.
Yousaf Raza Gilani, a former prime minister who belongs to the PPP, enjoyed the support of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance cobbled together by a dozen opposition parties against the embattled government of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The Gilani-Shaikh duel carried a huge symbolic value as the PDM had said in the run-up to the Senate elections that a win for Gilani would mean a vote of no-confidence vote against the prime minister.
According to unofficial results, Yousaf Gilani bagged 169 votes, while his rival Hafeez Shaikh received 164 votes. Seven votes were rejected.
“Just as initial response”, Shehbaz Gill, the prime minister’s aide on political affairs, said Gilani won by a slim margin of five votes, while seven votes were rejected. “Now we will challenge this result,” he added.
Reacting on the victory of Gilani, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari took to Twitter, saying: “Democracy is the best revenge.”
Polling for Senate election was completed in the National Assembly along with three provincial assemblies – Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
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Polling was delayed in the K-P Assembly due to late arrival of lawmakers. It has been completed with the final vote cast by Shahram Khan Tarakai from the PTI.
Apart from Jamaat-e-Islami all other political parties participated in the upper house of parliament’s elections which ended without any untoward incident.
Former Sindh Governor and PML-N leader Mohammad Zubair said the victory of Yousaf Raza Gilani is the first step towards sending Prime Minister Imran Khan home.
Following are the unofficial results coming in from the National Assembly and three provinces:
Sindh
PPP and MQM-P candidates Palwasha Khan and Khalida Ateeb from Sindh Assembly won the seats on reserved seats for women, according to unofficial results.
Balochistan
JUI-F’s candidate Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Independent candidate Abdul Qadir and BNP’s Mohammad Qasim have each been elected to a general seat.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
Results are awaiting from K-P.
National Assembly
PDM candidate Yousuf Raza Gillani emerged victorious against his opponent PTI’s Hafeez Shaikh from Islamabad.
PTI’s candidate Fauzia Arshad from NA women’s seat managed to get 174 votes, beating Farzana Kausar of the opposition PML-N.
Fauzia secured 174 votes while Farzana could only manage 161. Interestingly, the PTI candidate got 10 more votes than Shaikh who could only manage 164.
Prime Minister Imran Khan along with other notables including Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and PPP Co-Chiarman cast their votes.
During the day, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja visited the National Assembly Hall to review the polling process.
Voting began at 09:00 am and went on till 5:00 pm without any break.
Polling was due on 37 seats of the 104-member house. The National Assembly members voted for one general seat and one women’s seat from Islamabad.
Voting was held for 11 seats of Sindh and 12 each of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. However, In Punjab, there were 11 seats but thanks to the efforts of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) leadership all the senators have been elected unopposed.
Therefore, there will be no polling was held in Punjab.
Overall, 48 senators will be elected this year.–PUNA
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