KARACHI, Feb 6: There has been no change in the list of eligible candidates for the Senate elections as no appeal against the rejection of nomination papers has been accepted and no one had withdrawn from the contest till Thursday night.

The election in all four provinces has been scheduled for Feb 24 whereas in the federal capital and Fata areas, for Feb 27. Candidates can withdraw their nominations latest by 12 noon on Friday (Feb 7).

For the 22 Senate seats for Sindh, 56 candidates had filed their nomination papers but during the scrutiny, 11 papers were rejected.

Thursday was the last day for the hearing of appeals against acceptance or rejection of nomination papers. As no appeal was accepted, the number of candidates in the field remained at 45.

Earlier, Justice Ashraf Leghari, member of the Election Commission from Sindh, had rejected two appeals filed by Hasan Chanio and Ayaz Malik against rejection of their papers. The third one, filed by Asif Mustafa Jatoi, was withdrawn during the course of hearing. Nomination papers of Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah, who has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court, were accepted provisionally.

The candidates for general seats whose papers were rejected after scrutiny are: Maqbool Ahmad Shaikh, Mir Hasan Khoso, Faisal Malik, Dr Hasan M. Jalisee, Syed Kabir Ahmad, Hasan Ali Chanio and Amjad Ali Shah. Papers of Maulvi Riaz Hussain Chandio and Ayaz Malik, seeking seats reserved for technocrat, and Begum Tanveer Khalid aspiring for a women seat were also rejected. The latter’s papers for technocrat seat were, however, accepted.

Prominent among the eligible candidates are Allama Shah Ahmad Noorani from MMA; Muhammadmian Soomro, Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and Nisar Ahmad Memon from PML-Q; and Maulana Abbas Komaili from MQM.

For Sindh, like other provinces, there are 14 general, four women and four technocrat/ulema seats to be contested. For general seats, 31 nomination papers have been filed whereas for women seats 14 and for technocrats/ulema seats, 11 candidates are in the run.

The electoral college for election to the Senate depends on the strength of the provincial assembly. On the basis of Sindh Assembly strength, i.e. 168, each candidate will have to secure at least 12 votes to win a general seat and 42 votes to win a reserved seat.

Party position in Sindh Assembly is as follow: PPP 62, MQM 41, PML-Q 18, National Alliance 16, PML-F 13, MMA 8, PPP (Patriot) 5, MMA (Patriot) 2, MQM-H 1 and Independents 2.

Following is the list of eligible candidates:

Allama Abbas Komaili, Prof Saeed Siddiqui, Noman Sehgal, Ahmad Ali, Babar Khan Ghori, Muhammad Arif Khan and Rana Safdar from MQM; Mian Raza Rabbani, Abdul Latif Ansari, Karim Ahmad Khwaja, Qazi Hafeezur Rehman, Dr Safdar Abbasi, Abdullah and Muhammad Anwar Baig from PPP; Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah and Syed Mehmood Hashmi from National Alliance; Justice (r) Abdul Razzaq Thahim from PML-F; Muhammadmian Soomro and Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, from PML-Q; and Deewan Muhammad Yusuf, Munir Sultan, Syed Kabir Ahmad and Muhammad Amin Dadabhai — all Independents.

WOMEN: Nighat Mirza, Naila Latif, Abida Saif, Seema Zareen from MQM, Begum Salma Ahmad from PML-F; Syeda Zahida Zaidi, and Bibi Yasmeen Shah from PML-Q; Maleeha Malik, Rukhsana Zuberi and Farzana Hanif from PPP; Neelofar Syed from NA; Tahira Kokab from MMA; and an independent, Sheerin Farooqui.