Polling is underway for 11 Senate seats in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, with 25 candidates in the race,although some candidates have reportedly withdrawn from the contest. Read full details here. In an effort to avoid horse-trading, the government and opposition have mutually agreed on a 6-5 seat distribution formula.
The Jirga Hall of the KP Assembly in Peshawar has been designated as the election room, where 145 assembly members are casting their votes. Stringent security measures have been implemented for the Senate elections.
On the government side, PTI has fielded Murad Saeed, Faisal Javed, Mirza Afridi, and Pir Noorul Haq Qadri for general seats. Rubina Naz is contesting the women’s seat, while Azam Swati is the candidate for the technocrat seat.
From the opposition, PML-N’s Niaz Ahmed, PPP’s Talha Mahmood, and JUI-F’s Atta-ul-Haq are contesting for general seats. PPP’s Rubina Khalid is running for the women’s seat, and JUI’s Dilawar Khan is the candidate for the technocrat seat. In addition, 12 independent candidates are also in the running across general, technocrat, and women’s seats.
Currently, the KP Assembly has 92 votes held by the government and 53 by the opposition. With 19 votes required to win a single general seat, both sides have pre-agreed to allocate 6 seats to the government and 5 to the opposition, aiming to ensure a transparent electoral process.
It is worth noting that previous Senate elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were marred by allegations of horse-trading. However, this time, the consensus reached in advance seeks to prevent such issues and promote transparency.
