Khalida Mendhro wins Senate seat
Dr. Khalida Sikandar Mendhro of PPP won the vacant seat of technocrat in the Senate from Sindh with 97 votes. The seat was vacated due to the demise of Dr. Sikandar Mendhro. Polling for the by-election on this seat was held on Wednesday at the Sindh Assembly building.
Khalida Sikandar Mendhro, wife of late Dr. Sikandar Mendhro, was a PPP candidate and her opponent was Noorul Haq Qureshi of PTI.
In the eleventh hour development, PTI members announced boycott of the election. MQM-Pakistan and other opposition parties also stayed away.
Total number of members in the Sindh Assembly is 99 out of which 94 members exercised their voting right including Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Acting Governor Sindh Agha Siraj Durrani.
Three dissident PTI members, Aslam Abro, Shehryar Shar and Karim Bakhsh Gabol cast their votes.
Surprisingly, five PPP members, Sharmila Farooqi, Ejaz Shah Bukhari, Azra Pechuho, Ismail Rahu and Ali Nawaz Mehr did not cast their votes.
Provincial Election Commissioner, Ijaz Anwar Chauhan expressed satisfaction over the polling process and said that the polling was conducted in a peaceful manner.
He said that there were three candidates including Dr. Khaleda. None of the 97 votes cast were rejected and all the votes went to PPP's Dr Khaleda Mendhro.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 7th, 2022.