LAHORE: All the Senators from Punjab, numbering 11 in total were elected unopposed in a rare display of political harmony.
Seven general seats, 2 women seats and 2 technocrat seats will have no polling after members of the PTI, PML-N, PPP and PML-Q withdrew their candidates.
Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee, Aon Abbas and Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhry of the PTI, Afnan Ullah Khan, Prof Sajid Mir and Irfan-ul-Siddiqui of the PML-N and Kamil Ali Agha of the PML-Q were elected unopposed.
A close aide to Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi told Dawn that credit was due to the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly for playing a “key role” in convincing all parties for this rare display of political harmony.
The final decision regarding the withdrawl of candidates to ensure unopposed victories was allegedly taken during the previous business advisory committee of the Punjab Assembly.
Dr Zarqa Suharwardy Taimur from PTI and Saadia Abbasi from PML-N were elected unopposed for the two seats reserved for women, while Syed Ali Zafar from PTI and Azam Nazeer Tarar from the PML-N were elected for the seats reserved for technocrats/ulema.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, the notification for the senators from Punjab would only be issued after March 3, the date of the Senate polls.
The 10 candidates who withdrew their candidature were Zahid Hamid, Saiful Malook Khokhar, Baleeghur Rehman, Saud Majeed, Umar Sarfaraz Cheema, Jamshed Iqbal Cheema, Ijaz Hussain Minhas, Muhammad Khan Madni, Zaheer Abbas Khokhar and Azeem-ul-Haq Minhas.
Sources within PTI confirm that the leadership has expressed satisfaction over the senate election in Punjab.
