LAHORE: Dr Asad Ashraf on Thursday won the Senate by-poll on a general seat from Punjab with a thumping majority.

The Election Commission of Pakistan says 336 votes were polled and Dr Asad Ashraf, a candidate backed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, bagged 298 while his opponent Dr Zarqa Suharwardi Taimoor of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf obtained 38 votes. The PTI has 30 members in the house.

The Senate seat had fallen vacant after PML-N’s Nehal Hashmi was disqualified by the Supreme Court for his tirade against the judiciary.

As the apex court later declared null and void all the decisions taken by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif since his disqualification in July last year, the PML-N candidates for the Senate elections were also rendered “independents”.

Soon after Dr Ashraf’s victory was announced, Maryam Nawaz took to Twitter to express her delight. “Alhamdolilah. The PML-N has always stood tall. It is for the first time in the history of Pakistan that all speculations have fallen flat. Every Muslim Leaguer has become Nawaz Sharif”.

While Dr Asad Ashraf contested election as an independent candidate, he said only ‘Lions’ (PML-N’s election symbol) had come out of ballot boxes.

PTI’s Dr Tai­moor said she had contested the election not to grab the seat but battle for truth.

The PPP and Jamaat-i-Islami MPAs had abstained from the election, while the PML-Q leadership had decided to vote for the PTI.

As many as 12 votes were declared invalid, while two votes were cancelled by Returning Officer Sharif­ullah, who supervised the Senate election at the Punjab Assembly House.

PML-N MPA Malik Waheed’s vote was cancelled as he had shown the stamped ballot paper to Food Minister Bilal Yasin in the house.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who came to the Punjab Assembly after about a year since his last appearance, also polled his vote for the party candidate. PML-N MPA from Sheikhu­pura Arif Sand­heela had come to vote on an ambulance with a drip on.

Meanwhile, PTI’s Dr Taimoor filed an application with the returning officer, saying that PML-N MPA Malik Waheed had violated the ECP code of conduct by showing his stamped ballot paper to the food minister.

While the returning offi­cer has cancelled his vote, she demanded that Mr Waheed be also disqualified from polling vote in the Senate elections scheduled for Saturday.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2018