KARACHI: PPP vice president Sherry Rehman filed on Friday nomination papers for a general seat of the Senate from Sindh that had fallen vacant after resignation of Abdul Latif Ansari who had been elected to the upper house of parliament in March on the party’s ticket.

June 5 had been announced as the day for filing the papers and only two nominations were filed with Sindh Election Commissioner Tanveer Zaki. The other nomination papers were also of a PPP leader, Nadeem Bhutto, who is reportedly a covering candidate.

Also read: Sherry Rehman set to become senator

The scrutiny of papers, according to the schedule for the by-election, will be held on Saturday and Ms Rehman is likely to emerge elected unopposed because Mr Bhutto would withdraw his candidature after the process.

Ms Rehman went to file her papers along with a number of PPP ministers and leaders, led by Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah. The proposer and seconder of her nomination papers were Mahesh Kumar Malani, a PPP member of the Sindh Assembly from PS-61, and Abdul Karim Soomro from PS-54.

The nomination of Mr Bhutto, a former PPP MPA, was proposed by Mir Allah Bux Talpur from PS -56 and seconded by Pir Mujeebul Haq from PS-74.

Talking to reporters, Chief Minister Shah, who is also the provincial PPP chief, said the party was preparing for local bodies elections. He expressed confidence that after winning the Senate polls PPP would also emerge victorious in the local elections.

In reply to a question, he said the Sindh government had no concern about the change of governor, “nor have we proposed any name” for the post. He said the issue was related to the federal government.

Mr Shah said the presence of supporters in a large number for the filing of the nomination papers was a proof that PPP was a party of the masses like it had been in the past. “We are working to create job opportunities for youths and many development projects are about to be completed.”

The chief minister said work on the K-IV water project for Karachi, which had been lying in the cold storage for two decades, would begin soon.

He expressed the hope that water shortage in the city would be overcome within two months after implementation of some other schemes.

He said Ms Rehman was an important leader of PPP and would effectively raise voice for the rights of Sindh after her election to the Senate.

Published in Dawn June 6th, 2015

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