KARACHI, Jan 22: A total of 56 candidates filed their nomination papers for the 22 Senate seats from Sindh till Wednesday, the last day for filing nomination papers.
Allama Shah Ahmad Noorani, chief of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), besides former governor Muhammedmian Soomro, Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Nisar Ahmad Memon of PML-Q, and Maulana Abbas Komaili of MQM, was among those who submitted nomination papers on Wednesday.
A breakup shows that 31 of the candidates are in the field for 14 general seats whereas 14 for the four women seats and 11 for the technocrats/ ulema seats of the Senate.
Polling in the four provinces has been scheduled for Feb 24. In the federal capital and the federally administrated tribal areas, polling will be held on Feb 27.
The deadline for the withdrawal of nominations is Feb 7 and the final list of candidates will be published the next day.
As per the prescribed procedure, the electoral college comprising members of respective provincial assemblies will cast their votes to elect members of the Senate. On the basis of strength of Sindh Assembly, i.e. 168 members, a candidate will require at least 12 votes to win a general seat. The candidates for reserved seats will require 42 votes to emerge victorious.
Following is the party position in the assembly: PPP 62, MQM 41, PML-Q 18, National Alliance 16, PML-F 13, MMA 8, PPP (Patriot) 5, MMA (Patriot) 2, Mohajir Qaumi Movement 1 and Independents 2.
Following is the list of candidates:
GENERAL SEATS: Allama Abbas Komaili, Prof Saeed Siddiqui, Malik Faisal Gabol, Noman Sehgal, Ahmad Ali, Babar Khan Ghori, Muhammad Arif Khan, Rana Safdar of Muttahida Qaumi Movement; Mian Raza Rabbani, Abdul Latif Ansari, Karim Ahmad Khwaja, Qazi Hafeezur Rehman, Dr Safdar Abbasi, Abdullah, Muhammad Anwar Baig of Pakistan People’s Party; Shah Ahmed Noorani of MMA; Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah, Mir Hasan Khoso, Syed Mehmood Hashmi and Asif Jatoi of National Alliance; Justice (r) Abdul Razzaq Thaheem of PML-F; and Muhammedmian Soomro, Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Syed Amjad Hussain Shah, Maqbool Ahmad Shaikh, Hasan Ali Chandio and Dr Ahsan M. Jalisi of PML-Q; Deewan Muhammad Yusuf, Munir Sultan, Syed Kabir Ahmad and Muhammad Amin Dadabhai, Independents.
WOMEN SEATS: Nighat Mirza, Naila Latif, Abida Saif, Seema Zareen of MQM; Begum Salma Ahmad of PML-F; Syeda Zahida Zaidi, Bibi Yasmeen Shah, Begum Tanveer Khalid of PML-Q; Maleeha Malik, Rukhsana Zuberi, Farzana Hanif of PPP; Neelofar Syed of NA; Tahira Kokab of MMA and Sheerin Farooqui, Independent.
TECHNOCRATS/ULEMA SEATS: Farooq Naik, Nafees Ahmad Siddiqui, Muhammad Zaki Azam and Maulvi Riaz Hussain Chandio of PPP; Prof Saeed Siddiqui and Maulana Abbas Komaili of MQM, Nisar Ahmad Memon and Begum Tanveer Khalid of PML-Q, Abdul Karim Abid of MMA; Javed Jabbar and Ayaz Naik of National Alliance.
Scrutiny of the nomination papers of those contesting on general seats will be held at 10am on Jan 24.
Papers of those contesting on the seats reserved for women and technocrats/ ulema, would undergo the scrutiny at 11am on Jan 27.
