Back in business: Rind wins own Senate seat
Senator Mir Mohammad Ali Rind, from the Balochistan National Party-Awami, secured 27 of 59 votes cast by members of the 65-member Balochistan Assembly.
The seat had fallen vacant after the Balochistan High Court (BHC) disqualified Rind in August for concealing information when contesting the 2009 Senate elections. He hid the fact that he had been convicted of corruption and misappropriation by an accountability court.
However, Rind had filed nomination papers for the seat again after the Supreme Court ruled against the BHC verdict and allowed him to contest the polls.
Rind was contesting for the seat with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) Hafiz Hamdullah, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s (PML-Q) Sardar Abdur Rehman Katheran and Tariq Baloch, and former minister during the interim government Haider Khan Nasir.
Polling began at 9am in the Balochistan Assembly building and continued till 4pm. Baloch secured 19 votes and Hamdullah managed to clinch 13. Balochistan Election Commissioner Mehboob Anwar supervised the process.
Addressing a news conference, BNP-Awami parliamentary leader Ahsan Shah thanked the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Awami National Party and independent Senate members of Balochistan for supporting BNP-Awami’s candidate in the by-election. PPP Senator Lashkari Raisani played a crucial role in helping Rind win support for the seat, he said, adding that the victory was a clear message that “votes cannot be sold or purchased”.
The BHC had also directed Rind to return all perks and privileges he had enjoyed for two years as Senator and had directed the government to take action against him. Rind filed a review appeal in the SC against his disqualification, which overturned the verdict.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 19th, 2011.
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