ISLAMABAD, March 1: Efforts to persuade the candidates from breakaway factions of the PML-Q to pull out of the race and pave way for uncontested Senate elections on general seats in Sindh and Punjab failed on Thursday, a day before polling.

An official of the commission said that 98 candidates were contesting the election for 45 seats and there was no retirement by any candidate.

Eight candidates are now in the run for seven general seats each in Sindh and Punjab.

Sources told Dawn that Senator Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi of the PML-Likeminded and Mohsin Leghari of the PML-Q unification bloc had refused to retire from the contest.

Mr Qureshi, whose term in the Senate will expire on March 11, said he was in the run and in contact with members of the Sindh Assembly belonging to different political parties.

He said his group had not contested the Senate elections in 2009 after the Pakistan People’s Party expressed its desire for uncontested elections in line with its so-called policy of reconciliation, but this time when it was PPP’s turn to reciprocate it reached an understanding with the MQM and PML-F.

Mohsin Leghari, who is a member of the Punjab Assembly, said he was contacted by the PML-Q leadership and was offered a lucrative position in Islamabad, but he refused to retire.

He said he was receiving massive cross-party support and claimed that he was in a position to bag a few more votes than required to get elected.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission notified the uncontested election of Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan of the PPP and Ishaq Dar of the PML-N on the two seats reserved for technocrats, Nuzhat Sadiq of the PML-N and Khalida Parveen of the PPP on two seats reserved for women and Kamran Michael of the PML-N on one seat reserved for minorities, from Punjab.

Mushahid Hussain Sayed on the PML-Q and Osman Saifullah Khan of the PPP have been declared elected on technocrat and general seats respectively, from Islamabad.

Election for 50 Senate seats are held after every three years, but this time 54 senators will be elected because four seats – one in each province – have been reserved for minorities under the 18th Amendment. Nine senators have already been elected uncontested.

In Sindh, Mian Raza Rabbani, Saeed Ghani, Dr Karim Ahmad Khawaja and Mukhtar Ahmad Dharma (PPP), Colonel (retd) Tahir Hussain Mashhadi and Syed Mustafa Kamal (MQM), Maghan Mangrio (PML-F) are in the run for the seven general seats from Sindh. Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi of the PML-Likeminded is an independent candidate.

Nasreen Jalil (MQM), Mudassir Sehr Kamran (PPP) and Yasmeen Farrukh (independent) will be contesting for two seats reserved for women.

Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh (PPP) and Mohammad Farogh Naseem (MQM) have been elected unopposed on the two seats reserved for technocrats.

Hari Ram of the PPP and Photomal are contesting for one seat reserved for minorities.

In Punjab, M. Hamza, Sardar Zulfikar Ali Khosa, Mohammad Zafarullah Khan and Mohammad Rafique Rajwana (PML-N), Babar Awan and Chaudhry Aslam Gill (PPP) Kamil Ali Agha (PML-Q) and Mohsin Leghari are contesting for seven general seats.

In Balochistan, 19 candidates are in the run for seven general seats, nine for two women seats, eight for two technocrat seats and five for one seat for minorities.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 13 candidates are contesting for seven general seats, three for two women seats, six for two technocrat seats and two for one minorities’ seat.

Farhatullah Babar (PPP), Ilyas Ahmad Bilour (ANP) and Iqbal Zafar Jhagra (PML-N) are in the run for seats reserved for technocrats.

In the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), 11 candidates are in the run for four general seats.

The election commission has barred members of the National Assembly and the provincial assemblies from carrying mobile phones or any other electronic device through which pictures could be taken in the polling area.