Gilani clinches Senate seat from Islamabad with 204 votes against 88 votes of SIC\u2019s Ilyas Mehrban
\n KARACHI
\nThe ruling alliance at the Centre managed to win the by-polls on the five out of the six Senate seats with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) securing the majority of the seats. The polling for the six Senate seats in the National, Sindh and Balochistan assemblies began at 9am and ended at 4pm.
\nThese six seats had fallen vacant under Article 223 of the Constitution which prohibits lawmakers from holding dual membership. The sub-section 4 of the article states: \u201cSubject to clause (2) if a member of either House or of a Provincial Assembly becomes a candidate for a second sear which, in accordance with clause (1), he may not hold concurrently with his first seat, then his first seat shall become vacant as soon as he is elected to the second seat.\u201d
\nIslamabad
\nIn the National Assembly, PPP\u2019s Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani managed to retain the seat he vacated after securing.
\nOut of the 301 votes cast, Gilani, who was a joint candidate of the ruling coalition of six parties, secured 204 votes compared to his rival SIC\u2019s Ilyas Mehrban who could only get 88 votes. Nine votes were rejected during the vote count. The seat on which the elections were held today had fallen vacant after Gillani was elected as MNA in the Feb 8 elections. The PPP leader has been tipped for the Senate chairman\u2019s slot.
\nSindh
\nIn Sindh, 124 votes were cast during the polling held to fill the two vacant general seats of the upper house.
\nAfter the count, PPP\u2019s Jam Saifullah Khan Dharejo and Muhammad Aslam Abro managed to get elected to the Senate by obtaining 58 and 57 votes respectively.
\nWhile Nazeerullah and Shazia Sohail of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) were only able to get 4 votes each.
\nDuring the count, one vote was rejected.
\nThe seats had fallen vacant as PPP senators Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and Jam Mehtab Dahar were elected to the Sindh Assembly in the February 8 general elections.
\nProvincial Election Commissioner, Sindh, Sharifullah, acted as the returning officer in the Sindh Assembly.
\nIn today\u2019s election the Muttahid Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Jamat-e-Islami (JI) \u2014 two opposition parties in the Sindh Assembly \u2014 boycotted the polling, sources told Geo News without elaborating further.
\nBalochistan
\nMeanwhile, in the Balochistan Assembly 61 votes were cast for the three general seats of the Senate from the province. A total of seven candidates were running for three seats.
\nHowever, PPP\u2019s Abdul Quddus Bizenjo, PML-N\u2019s Mir Dostain Khan Domki and JUI-F\u2019s Abdul Shakoor Khan managed to win the elections. Bizenjo bagged 23 votes, Domki got 17 while the JUI-F\u2019s candidate got elected with 16 votes. These three Senate seats became vacant after senators Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti and Prince Ahmad Umar Ahmadzai became members of the National and Balochistan assemblies in the February 8 general elections. Haideri belongs to JUI-F, while Bugti and Ahmadzai were elected on the BAP tickets to the senate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gilani clinches Senate seat from Islamabad with 204 votes against 88 votes of SIC\u2019s Ilyas Mehrban KARACHI The ruling alliance at the Centre managed to win the by-polls on the five out of the six Senate seats with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) securing the majority of the seats. The polling for the six Senate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393758,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-393739","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n