Senate polls process culminates with election of four FATA senators

The four new senators include Aurangzaib Khan, Sajjad Turi, Gul Taj Afridi and Momin Khan

ISLAMABAD: Elections to fill 52 Senate seats that fall vacant earlier this month, culminated on Friday with as four new members from FATA were elected.

Sajid Hussain Tori, Aurangzeb Khan, Taj Muhammad Afridi, and Haji Momin Khan Afridi were elected as new senators from FATA, with the Upper House completing its full strength of 104 members.

The newly elected Senators will replace four members from FATA who were among the 52 members of Upper House who retired on March 11, after completing their six year term. Half of the members in Senate retire after every three years and are replaced by new ones.

Polling on the four Fata seats had to be postponed after a last minute Presidential Ordinance, which changed the procedure for election to Fata seats, was issued just hours before voting was scheduled to start.

The contentious order was later withdrawn and a new schedule was issued. To elect members of Senate from FATA, only national assembly members from the area can vote. With one national assembly seat from the area vacant, 11 MNAs were due to elect these four Senators.

Four MNAs, on whose demand the Presidential Order was issued, boycotted the polls, leaving the remaining seven MNAs to elect the four Senators.

Aurangzeb Khan and Taj Muhammad Afridi received seven votes each, while Haji Momin Khan Afridi and Sajjad Hussain secured six votes each under the voting system adopted in 2002.

Under the 2002 system, each MNA from FATA can cast upto four votes. This arbitrary power given to FATA MNA’s has been attracting criticism-with critics accuse that it leads to buying of votes by contestants. The Presidential ordinance had sought to nullify this and had reverted one vote for each Fata MNA.