ISLAMABAD, Feb 21: The Election Commission on Tuesday announced the names of seven candidates elected unopposed to the Senate on general seats from Punjab on the last day for withdrawal of nomination papers for 50 seats of the 100-seat upper house.
Leader of the House in the Senate Waseem Sajjad had already been declared elected unopposed on a technocrat seat from the federal capital.
After withdrawals by 32 candidates, 177 candidates are left in the field to contest for the remaining 42 seats.
After withdrawal of two candidates — Mian Abdul Sattar and Mohammad Akbar Khawaja — from Punjab, the seven elected unopposed are: Sardar Mohammad Jamal Khan Leghari, Syed Javed Ali Shah, Lt-Gen (retired) Javed Ashraf, Mohammad Ali Durrani and Naeem Hussain Chathha of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, Dr Zaheeruddin Babar Awan of the People’s Party Parliamentarians and Mohammad Ishaq Dar of the PML-N.
On March 4, members of the 342-seat National Assembly would elect one member for Senate from Islamabad and four from the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas.
The provincial assemblies would elect senators from their respective provinces on March 6.
Tariq Azim Khan of the PML and B. A. Malik of the PPP will be contesting the Senate elections from the capital on general seat.
Likewise from Fata, 39 independents candidates are on the list of contesting candidates. They are: Haji Surat Khan, Dr Abdul Qadir, Maulana Gul Ramzan, Maulana Mohammad Saleh Shah, Abdur Rasheed, Maulana Abdul Rehman Wazir, Akbar Jan, Mohammad Ihsanullah, Ghulam Sarwar, Hafiz Rasheed Ahmed, Fazal Khaliq, Nasir Jamal, Abdul Raziq, Shaukatullah, Hadayatullah, Syed Shah Hussain, Mohammad Ayub, Mohammad Ajmal Khan, Tahir Iqbal, Syed Sajjad Hussain, Qayyum Sher Mahsud, Mukhtar Ahmed, Khan Badshah, Maulvi Khurshid Ahmad, Fakhru Zaman Khan, Habib Malik, Hafiz Muhabat Khan, Mohammad Ijaz, Dr Gul Alam Khan, Ahmed Jan, Dr Khalid Mahmood, Maulana Mohammad Jamaludin, Munir Khan Bangash, Ghulam Haider, Said Noor, Saeedullah, Said Aslam, Mohammad Humayyun and Mohammad Asghar Khan.
From Punjab on technocrat seats, S. M. Zafar (PML), Mohammad Akbar Khawaja (PPP), Haroon Khan (PML) and Dr Israr Hussain Shah (PPP) are vying.
On women seat Sajida Mir (PPP), Gulshan Saeed and Nilofer Bakhtiar (both from PML) are contesting.
From Sindh Ahmed Ali (MQM), Col (retired) Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi (MQM), Justice (retired) Abdul Razak A. Thahim (PML-F), Dr Khalid Mahmood Soomro (JUI), Dr Safdar Ali (PPP), Mian Raza Rabbani (PPP), Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi (PML) and Kishin Chand Parwani (PML) are in field for the general seats.
Prof Dr Abdul Khaliq Pirzada (MQM), Dr Javaid Leghari (PPP) and Syed Mahmood Hashmi (PML) are vying from Sindh under the On technocrat/ulema category.
On women seats the candidates are: Sabira Khatoon (MQM), Ratna (PPP), Semeen Siddiqui (PML) and Leela alias Kalpna (PML).
From the NWFP, 12 candidates are contesting for the general seats. They are: Qari Mohammad Abdullah (MMA), Mohammad Ghufran Khan (PPP), Farhatullah Babar (PPP), Prof Khurshid Ahmed (MMA), Mohammad Talha Mahmood (MMA), Syed Hadayatullah Shah (MMA), Maulana Gul Naseeb (MMA), Ammar Ahmad Khan (PML), Saleem Saifullah Khan (PML), Syed Muneem Shah (MMA), Prof Mohammad Ibrahim Khan (MMA) and Dr Abdul Jamal Khan (independent).
On the technocrat seats from the NWFP Syed Maroof Shah Shahrazi (MMA), Ilyas Ahmed Bilour (ANP), Mohammad Azam Swati (MMA), Justice (retired) Mohammad Azam Khan (PML) and Iqbal Zafar Jhagra (PML-N) are in the field.
On women seats Fauzia Fakheruz Zaman (PML), Afia Zia (MMA), Musarrat Mushtaq Kaka Khel (MMA) and Dr Shahina Jamil Khan (independent) are contesting polls.
From Balochistan 18 candidates on general seats are still on the run. They are: Mian Saifullah Khan Paracha (PPP), Syed Mohammad Fazal Agha (PML), Israrullah Khan (BNP-Awami), Jan Mohammad Khan Jamali (PML), Mohammad Wali (MMA), Mohammad Ismail (MMA JUI-F), Dr Azizullah Satakzai and Bashir Ahmed (MMA), Mohammad Nawaz (MMA JUI-F), Shahid Hussain Bugti (JWP), Mohabbat Khan Marri (PML), Mohammad Abdul Rahim Khan Mandokhal (PMAP), Agha Hassan (BNP) and Mohammad Abdul Qadir, Ayaz Khan Mandokhail, Mohammad Zarait, Dr Abdul Malik and Mohammad Aslam Bhotani.
On technocrat seats Dr Abdul Malik (independent), Dr Kaleemullah Khan (PMAP), Ali Mohammad Abu Turab (MMA), Mian Saifullah Khan Paracha (PPP), Saeed Ahmed Hashmi (PML), Habibullah Jalib (BNP) and Rehmatullah Kakar (MMA) are in the run.
For women seats the eight names are: Roshan Khursheed Barucha (PML), Rehana Yahya Baloch (PML), Sabina Rauf (MMA), Hafza Laique (MMA JUI-F), Perveen Niaz (MMA), Rabia Achakzai (PMAP), Prof Naela Quadri (BNP) and Sayyeda Nargis Safvi (Baloch).
