ISLAMABAD: After a delay of two weeks, elections on four Senate seats from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) were finally held on Friday.

According to unofficial results, Taj Mohammad, Aurengzeb Khan, Momin Khan and Sajid Toori were elected senators after the Islamabad High Court conditionally allowed the polling, linking it with the outcome of its final judgment on a petition filed by former textile minister Abbas Khan Afridi challenging the mode of elections on Fata seats introduced in 2002 by then military ruler Pervez Musharraf.

The elections were to take place on March 5, but confusion over a controversial presidential order amending the procedure of elections had forced the Election Commission to cancel the polling indefinitely.

Under the order that now stands withdrawn, one seat each was allocated for seven tribal agencies and another for frontier regions, practically throwing out of the electoral race the candidates from the tribal agencies already having representation in the Senate, even after the acceptance of their nomination papers.

Although the elections on four of the total eight Senate seats from Fata have now taken place, it remains a fact that those elected now were deprived of their rights to take part in the election to the offices of chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate.

Many blame the ECP for it, saying that the commission should have ignored the last-minute order issued by the president after the announcement of election schedule, particularly when it had found the order to be vague, self-contradictory and derogatory to the law under which the schedule had been issued.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play

Opinion

Editorial

Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...
New terror wave
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

New terror wave

The time has come for decisive government action against militancy.
Development costs
27 Mar, 2024

Development costs

A HEFTY escalation of 30pc in the cost of ongoing federal development schemes is one of the many decisions where the...
Aitchison controversy
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

Aitchison controversy

It is hoped that higher authorities realise that politics and nepotism have no place in schools.