Political bigwigs in fray for Senate slots

ISLAMABAD:

Political heavyweights from Khyber to Karachi are among the 120 contenders, who have entered the arena for the 48 seats in the upper house of parliament – the elections for which are slated to be held on April 2.

A total of 26 candidates are in the fray for 12 seats in the Senate from Punjab and 33 are set to battle it out for a similar number of slots from Sindh.

Similarly, 30 candidates are in the race for 11 seats from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and 36 for an equal number of spots from Balochistan.

Likewise, four candidates are eyeing the two seats from Islamabad.

There are 17 contestants for the seven general seats of the Senate from Punjab. They include Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi; PML-N’s Talal Chaudhry, Ahad Cheema, Pervaiz Rashid, Nasir Butt, and Musadik  Malik; SIC-PTI’s Omar Sarfaraz Cheema, Walid Iqbal,  Dr Shahzad Waseem , and Hamid Khan; as well as Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen chief Raja Nasir Abbas.

For the technocrat seats from Punjab, four contenders are in the fray -- Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, Mustafa Ramday, Dr Yasmin Rashid and Musadik Malik.

The nomination papers of Faiza Ahmed, Anusha Rahman and Bushra Anjum Butt were approved for the reserved seats for women from the province.

Read ECP announces schedule for Senate polls

Similarly, Asif Ashiq and Khalil Tahir Sindhu will vie for the seat reserved for minorities from Punjab.
For the seven general seats from K-P, the contestants include Irfan Saleem, Talha Mehmood, Dilawar Khan, Faisal Javed, Mirza Muhammad Afridi, Azhar Mashwani, Niaz Ahmed, Waqas Orkazai, Fazal Hanan, Asif Iqbal, Faizur Rehman, Khurram Zeeshan, Attaul Haq, Masoodur Rahman, Shafqat Ayaz, Asif Rafiq, ex-CM Mahmood Khan, Noorul Haq Qadri, Muhammad Naseem, Sajjad Hussain, Taj Muhammad Afridi, Ahmed Mustafa, and Fida Muhammad.

For the two technocrat slots from the province, the competitors include Qazi Muhammad Anwar, Waqar Ahmed Qazi, Dr Hammad Mehmood Cheema, Khalid Masood, Fazal Hanan, Dilawar Khan, Qaiser Khan, Noorul Haq Qadri, and Syed Irshad Hussain.

Mehvish Ali Khan, Ayesha Bano, Rubina Naaz, Begum Tahira Bukhari, Rubina Khalid, Hamida Shahid and Shazia will compete for the two reserved seats for women from K-P in the Senate.

For the 11 seats from Balochistan, 36 contenders are in the fray including ex-caretaker premier Anwaarul Haq Kakar, ANP’s Aimal Wali Khan, former caretaker provincial minister Amanullah Kanrani, Kahuda Babar Baloch, Naseebullah Bazai, JUI-F’s Maulana Abdul Wasey, PPP’s Sardar Umar Gorgage, Jan Mohammad Buledi, Mir Changez Jamali and Rahila Durrani.

For the seven general seats from Sindh, PPP’s Ashraf Jatoi, Masroor Ahsan, Kazim Shah, Sarfraz Rajar, Nadeem Bhutto, Javed Nayab Laghari, Dost Ali Jaisar, Ghanoor Khan Asran, Aziz Dhamra; MQM-P’s Muhammad Abubakar, Rauf Siddiqui, Shabbir Qaimkhani, Amir Chishti, Humayun Usman Rajput, Shehbaz Zaheer, Nighat Mirza; and independent candidates Faisal Vawda, Wahab Baloch, Barrister Tahir, and Raja Jakharani are in the fray.

Zameer Ghamro, Sarmad Ali, Karim Khawaja of the PPP, while independent candidates Wahab Baloch and Manzoor Bhatta will contest for the single technocrat seat from the province.

For the reserved seats for women from Sindh, the contenders include Quratulain Marri, Rubina Saadat Qaimkhani and Mahjabeen Riaz.

Poonjo Bheel and Bhagwan Das Bheel will compete for the seat reserved for minorities from the province.

From Islamabad, four candidates will contest for two seats in Senate. Rana Mehmoodul Hasan and Farzand Hussain Shah will contest for the general seat.

Ishaq Dar and Raja Ansar Mehmood will battle it out for the technocrat slot.