Senate candidates to affirm tickets not bought

ECP Sindh issues revised list of candidates for upcoming polls

KARACHI:

A written oath highlighting the process of affirmation from the candidates contesting the Senate polls that they had not paid money to acquire tickets from political parties, had not engaged and were not involved in illegal activities and horse trading, has been introduced for the very first time in Pakistan.

The affidavits comprise of five stipulations. The candidate has to first mention the seat they are contesting from. Second, they have to affirm that they haven't paid money to acquire the ticket to contest the election or paid the voters directly or indirectly to seek their votes. The candidate has to affirm that they are not involved in any violation of laws, illegal activities or corruption. They also have to agree to allow the election commission to inquire about their assets and accounts under Election Commission Act 2017. Lastly, the candidate has to agree to follow all election commission rules.

Palwasha Zai Khan of the Pakistan Peoples Party is the first candidate who has submitted the affidavit in this regard.

The Senate polls are to be held on March 3.

Revised list

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan Sindh has issued a revised list of Senate candidates on Wednesday. There are 33 candidates, of which 16 are contesting on general seats, eight on technocrats seats and nine on seats reserved for women.

The PPP has seven candidates contesting general seats. They are Sadiq Ali Memon, Saleem Mandviwala, Sherry Rehman, Dost Ali Jessar, Jam Mehtab Hussain, Taj Haider and Shahadat Awan.

Also read: Parties start canvassing for Senate candidates

The three PPP candidates on technocrat's seats are Farooq H Naek, Shahadat Awan and Karim Ahmed Khawaja. The four candidates on women seats are Palwasha Zai Khan, Rukhsana Parveen, Khairun Nisa and Farzana Baloch.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has four candidates for general seats. They are Faisal Vawda, Ashraf Qureshi, Mehmood Molvi and Ali Junejo. Its three candidates on technocrat seats are Hassan Bakhshi, Hunaid Lakhani and Samar Ali Khan. The three candidates for women seats are Fiza Zeeshan, Sareena Adnan and Erum Butt.

In the revised list, the Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has two candidates for general seats. They are Faisal Sabzwari and Zafar Kamali.

The party has taken back the nomination papers of Amir Khan and Abdul Qadir Khanzada. It has two candidates on the seats reserved for women, Khalida Ateeb and Sabeen Ghori.

From the Grand Democratic Alliance, Pir Sadaruddin Shah and Sardar Raheem are contesting on general seats.

The election tribunal had rejected the nomination papers of PTI candidate, Saifullah Abro, and accepted the nomination papers of TLP candidate, Yashaullah Khan, for technocrat seat. The last date for taking the nomination papers back is February 25 and more candidates are expected to withdraw today.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2021.