QUETTA: The Provincial Election Commission, Balochistan, has said that all arrangements have been completed to hold the by-election on a Senate seat on Monday (today).

The polling will start at 9am and continue till 4pm without any break.

The seat had fallen vacant after Senator Azam Khan Musakhail of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) passed away last month due to heart attack.

Three main candidates in the run belong to the ruling Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), opposition alliance and the PkMAP.

The ruling alliance headed by Jam Kamal Alyani has fielded Manzoor Khan Kakar as its candidate. Ghulam Nabi Marri of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) and Mohammad Hanif Musakhail of the PkMAP are the other main candidates.

The Awami National Party (ANP) had put Dr Inayatullah, but withdrew his nomination papers after receiving some assurances from the ruling party. Yahya Nasar of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) had submitted nomination papers, but later withdrew after his party decided to support the BNP-M candidate.

The ruling coalition comprises the BAP, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Balochistan National Party-Awami (BNP-A), Hazara Democratic Party (HDP), ANP and Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP).

The ruling alliance claims that it is enjoying support of 40 members in a house of 65. The BAP has 23 members, PTI 7, ANP 4, BNP-A 3 and HDP 2. Sardar Masood Luni, who was elected as an independent candidate in a by-election in Loralai, is also supporting the ruling coalition.

On the other hand, the BNP-M, which had awarded the party ticket to its senior leader Ghulam Nabi Marri, has 10 seats in the assembly, while its close election ally JUI-F has 11 members.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), PkMAP and JWP have one member each, while Aslam Raisani was elected as an independent candidate. The combined opposition is enjoying the support of around 24 members.

The JWP, which had supported Jam Kamal in the election of leader of the house, has one member in the assembly. It is not yet clear whom the JWP will support in the Senate by-election.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2019