KARACHI: Six aspirants file papers for Senate election: Nomination process starts
By Habib Khan Ghori
KARACHI, Feb 11: On the first day of filing nomination papers for the 11 Senate seats for Sindh, six candidates submitted their papers on Saturday. Three of them are contesting on general seats and the other three on women seats. No nomination was filed for the technocrat seat.
Out of the six candidates, four belong to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, one to the PML-F and one, for the women seat, is an independent candidate who reportedly enjoys the backing of the PML-Q’s Mahar group.
The PPP and PML-Q, did not file any nomination paper. Four of the PPP and two of the PML-Q senators are due to retire on March 11 after completing their three-year term.
Likewise, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, which intends to reclaim its seat once occupied by its founder chief, late Allama Shah Ahmad Noorani, has also not filed any nomination paper as yet. The MMA is waiting for the outcome of its negotiations with the PPP on seat adjustments viz-a-viz the Senate election on seats for Sindh and NWFP.
Following is the detail of the nomination papers received by the Election Commissioner, Sindh, Qamar-uz-Zaman Khan, on Saturday:
The two candidates who have filed three forms each on general seats are Ahmed Ali and Col (r) Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi. Both belong to the MQM. The third candidate for the general seat is Justice (r) Abdul Razzaq Thaheem of the PML-F.
Ahmed Ali and A. R. Thaheem are sitting senators while Tahir Mashhadi, who had reportedly resigned as the Nazim of Jamshed Town, Karachi, is likely to replace the outgoing MQM senator, Saeed Siddiqui.
MQM’s Mrs Abida Saif and Mrs Nighat Mirza have filed nomination papers for the seats they have presently been occupying.
The third candidate is Miss Saba Rabbani Tiwana, the younger sister of Rahila Tiwana, Depty Speaker of the Sindh Assembly. She has filed two nomination papers as an independent candidate.
The PPP has confirmed that Mian Raza Rabbani and Dr Safdar Abbasi would be trying to retain their (general) seats whereas Dr Javed Leghari will file his nomination papers for one of the technocrats’ seat. His covering candidate would be Dr Karim Khwaja.
The PPP has also awarded its ticket for women seat to Ms Ratna Bhagwandas Chawla, whose covering candidate will be Ms Farzana Baloch.
The PML-Q has also firmed the list of its candidates who have been nominated by the party’s parliamentary board. They are Ghaffar Qureshi and Kishanchand Perwani for general seats; and Ms Seemi Siddiqui for women seat.
In each province, election for 11 Senate seats is scheduled for March 6. Seven of the 11 seats are general whereas two are reserved for women and two for technocrats. The Electoral College for the senate election is the total members of each assembly.
The Sindh Assembly has a strength of 168 members which means a winner, among general seat candidates, would require at least 22 votes. Contestants of women and technocrats seat would need a minimum of 57 votes to win.
PPP, the single largest party in the Sindh Assembly, has 60 members whereas MQM is the second largest with 42 seats. PML-Q has 38 and PML-F has 14 members whereas PPP-Patriot and MMA have seven members each in the house.
