ISLAMABAD: PML-N candidate for a Senate seat Mushahid Hussain Sayed along with other party leaders comes out of the ECP building after submitting his nomination papers on Thursday.—Online
ISLAMABAD: PML-N candidate for a Senate seat Mushahid Hussain Sayed along with other party leaders comes out of the ECP building after submitting his nomination papers on Thursday.—Online

ISLAMABAD: Over 140 candidates have so far filed nomination papers for the coming Senate elections, according to the details released by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday.

The elections for 52 seats from the four provinces, the federal capital and the Federally Adminis­tered Tribal Areas are to be held on March 3. Feb 8 was the last date for filing nomination papers for the seats from the provinces.

A total of 52 senators in the house of 104 will retire on March 11 after completion of their six-year term.

According to the ECP, 34 nomination forms have been submitted from Punjab, of which 21 were for general seats, five for reserved seats for women, five for technocrat seats, and three for reserved seats for minorities.

ECP seeks NAB, SBP help for scrutiny of documents

Besides, 47 nomination forms have been submitted from Sindh — 23 of them for general seats, 11 for reserved seats for technocrats, nine for reserved seats for women and four for reserved seats for minorities.

In Balochistan, 28 nomination forms have been submitted, 15 of them for general seats, seven for reserved seats for technocrats and six for women-specific seats.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 34 nomination forms have been submitted, 20 of them for general seats, six for reserved seats for technocrats and eight for reserved seats for women.

According to documents available with Dawn, no nomination form has been submitted for Senate seats from Fata. Mushahid Hussain Sayed, who was a Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) Senator until recently, is the only one to have filed nomination papers for a technocrat seat from Islamabad — this time as a PML-N candidate.

Incumbent chairman of the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani, Maula Bux Chandio, Mustasfa Nawaz Khokhar, Muhammad Ali Shah Jamot, Imamuddin Shouqeen, Ayaz Ahmad Mehar, Murtaza Wahab, Dost Ali Jesser and Jawad Nayyab Leghari of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah of the PML-Functional, Syed Mubashir Imam, Sagheer Ahmad, Hassan Sabir, Anees Ahmad Khan of the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP), Kamran Khan Terssori, Amin-ul-Haque, Farhan Chishti, Farogh Naseem, Amir Waliduddin Chishti, Ahmad Chinoy and Sarfaraz Khan Jatoi of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Muhammad Asif Khan of the PML-N are the 23 candidates to have filed papers for seven general seats from Sindh.

Qurratulain Marri, Humera Alwani, Ms Kesho and Nida Khuhro of the PPP, Nasreen Jalil, Mangla Sharma, Nikhat Shakeel Khan and Kishwar Zehra of the MQM-P and Sofia Saeed Shah of the PSP are the nine candidates to have filed nominations for two seats reserved for women from the province.

Abdul Qadir Kkanzada, Farogh Naseem, Ahmad Chinoy, Syed Ali Raza Abidi, retd Justice Hasan Feroz (MQM-P), Sikandar Ali Mandhro, Rukhsana Zuberi, Yunis Hyder Soomro, Taj Haider (PPP), Najeeb Haroon (Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf) and Sofia Saeed Shah (PSP) have filed nomination papers for two seats reserved for technocrats, including Ulema, from Sindh. Anwar Lal Deen, Anthony Naveed (PPP) Mohan Manjiani (PSP) and Sanjay Parwani (MQM-P) have filed nominations for one seat reserved for non-Muslims.

For 12 Senate seats from Punjab -- including seven general seats, two each reserved for women and technocrats and one for minorities -- 34 candidates have filed their nomination papers. Among them 21 candidates -- Kamal Ali Aga, Muhammad Usman Khan, Ishaq Dar, Shahzad Ali Khan, Zubair Gull, Muhammad Sarwar, Musadik Masood Malik, Maqbool Ahmed, Sami Ullah Chaudhry, Haroon Khan, Malik Shakeel Awan, Shaheen Khalid Butt, Irfan Ahmed Khan Daha, Rana Mahmoodul Hassan, Mian Hamid Miraj, Syed Asif Saeed Kirmani, Sarfaraz Qureshi, Muhammad Bilal Butt, Sartaj Ali Khan and Rao Aneesur Rehman Khan -- are candidates for seven general seats.

For one non-Muslim seat, three candidates -- Kamran Michael, William Michael and Victor Azariah -- have filed nominations. For the two technocrat seats five candidates are in run. Former finance minister Ishaq Dar, who has filed nomination papers for general seat, has also filed the papers in technocrat category as well. The other four aspiring candidates are: Muhammad Nawazish Ali Pirzada, Abdul Karim, Malik Muhammad Asif and Chaudhry Munir Ahmed.

For the two women seats former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Nuzhat Sadiq, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Saadia Abbasi and Andleeb Abbas have filed nomination papers.

From Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Muhammad Ayub, Khial Zaman, Fida Muhammad, Faisal Javed, Latif Yousafzai, Zafar Ullah Khatak, Ali Hasan (PTI), Gul Naseeb Khan, Talha Mehmood (Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F), Afzal Khan Jadoon, Haji Dildar Khan, Muhammad Sabir Shah, Muhammad Qasim Shah (PML-N), Faisal Sakhi Butt, Bahramand (PPP), Masood Abbas, Mushtaq Ahmad, Abdul Wasi (Jamaat-i-Islami) and Maulana Samiul Haq (independent) have filed nomination papers for seven general seats. Talha Mehmood is the only one to have filed two separate nomination papers.

Azam Swati, Latif Yousafzai (PTI), Maulana Samiul Haq, Nisar Khan (independent), Dilawar Khan (PML-N) and Muhammad Yaqoob Shaikh (JUI-F) and Muhammad Ghufran (Qaumi Watan Party) have filed nomination papers for two seats reserved for technocrats. Mehar Taj Boghani, Naureen Farooq Khan (PTI), Raeesa Daud, Sobia Shahid (PML-N), Naeema Kishwar Khan (JUI-F), Shagufta Malik (Awami National Party), Rubina Khalid (PPP) and Aneesa Zeb Tahirkheli (QWP) have filed nomination papers for two seats reserved for women from KP.

For 11 seats from Balochistan -- including seven general and two each for women and technocrats, 28 candidates have filed nomination papers. For general seats 15 candidates have filed their nominations. The candidates are: Amir Afzal Khan of the PML-N, Muhammad Akram of the National Party (NP), Maulvi Fiaz Mohammad of the JUI-F, Muhammad Sadiq Sangrani, Ahmed Khan, Muhammad Abdul Qadir, Allauddin, Anwarul Haq Kakar, Kuhda Babar, Fateh Muhammad Baloch and Hussain Islam (independent), Humayun Aziz Kurd of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal, Nizamuddin Kakar of the ANP and Yousaf Khan Kakar and Sardar Shafeeq Tareen of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP).

From the province, seven candidates -- Tahir Bazinjo (NP), Kamran Murtaza (JUI-F), Nizam Uddin (NP), Naseeb Ullah Bazai (PML-N), Dr Manaf Tareen (PkMAP), Abdul Qadir and Hussain Islam (independent) -- have filed nomination papers for two technocrat seats.

For two seats reserved for women, Tahira Khursheed (NP), Sana Jamali and Sama Parveen Magsi (independent), Azra Syed (JUI-F), Abida Umar (PkMAP) and Samina Mumtaz (PML-N) have filed nomination papers.

In a related development, the ECP has sought help of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in scrutiny of the nomination papers. Online technology will be used to get information from the relevant quarters on matters including defaults and written off loans, convictions and dual nationality.

ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad has written letters to all the relevant offices seeking their cooperation in the scrutiny exercise and asking them to name a focal person for the purpose.

The ECP said in a statement that those lawmakers who had not filed their statements of assets last year would not be able to vote in the Senate polls. It said nine lawmakers continue to be suspended for their failure to meet legal obligations. They include Muhammad Ismael Rahu, Makhdoom Khalil- uz-Zaman, Ms Tania, Muhammad Kamran, Rukhsana Parveen, Bilqees Mukhtar and Irum Azim Farooqi of the Sindh Assembly and Sardar Jamal Leghari and Majeed Niazi of the Punjab Assembly.

Saleem Shahid from Quetta also contributed to this report.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2018

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