QUETTA: A political wor­ker of the ruling Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), Nusrat Shaheen, was on Tuesday elected unopposed a member of the Senate in the by-election on a vacant seat of the upper house of parliament from Balochistan.

The seat had fallen vacant after the death of three-time elected senator from Balochistan on tickets of different political parties, Kalsoom Parveen. She died after getting infected by Covid-19 last month.

Ms Shaheen will enjoy the Senate membership just for 57 days as the term of this Senate seat will end on March 11.

According to the Provin­cial Election Commis­sioner, Balochis­tan, only two female candidates — Nusrat Shaheen and Rita Kumari ­— had filed their nomi-nation papers after schedule for the by-election on the vacant seat was announced.

However, Rita Kumari later withdrew her nomination papers before the polling date which was Jan 4.

The Provincial Elec­tion Commissioner, Balo­chis­tan, Mohammad Razzaq, on Tuesday announced the result of the by-election on the Senate seat.

“Ms Nusrat Shaheen of Balochistan Awami National Party (BAP) has been elected unopposed senator on the vacant seat of Senate from Balo­chistan,” the election com­­missioner anno­unced.

Nusrat Shaheen had joined the BAP last year and worked as a worker in the party. Many active party female leaders were interested in the Senate seat, but BAP president and Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani had awarded the party ticket to Ms Shaheen.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2021