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Polling on the 30 vacant seats of the Senate of Pakistan will be held tomorrow, Pakistan-based ARY News reported.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has notified 18 candidates as elected unopposed in Balochistan and Punjab. Polling for the rest of the 30 seats will be held in Pakistan's National Assembly and provincial assemblies of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh, ARY News reported. The Senate polls for 11 seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could be delayed if the Speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly does not administer the oath to women and minority lawmakers-elect from the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) on the reserved seats. The Election Commission of Pakistan has finalised all preparations for holding Senate elections on Tuesday. According to the electoral watchdog, polling will be held in Pakistan's National Assembly and provincial assemblies from 9 am to 4 pm (local time), ARY News reported. Ballot papers in four different colours have been printed for the Senate polls. For general seats, white papers will be used. Green papers will be used for technocrat seats, yellow for minority seats and pink for women. In addition, the transportation of election materials to returning officers has been completed. Returning officers have issued the final list of candidates. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has decided to boycott the upcoming Senate elections in Sindh, claiming widespread rigging in the electoral process, Geo News reported. Addressing a press conference in Karachi, PTI leader Haleem Adil Sheikh expressed concerns over the integrity of the Senate elections, saying, "Senate elections are being won through rigging." He highlighted the exclusion of PTI-backed candidates from the Sindh Assembly, suggesting foul play in the election results documented in Form 47, as reported by Geo News. Sheikh noted that despite six PTI-backed candidates being in contention for Senate seats in Sindh, they have opted to boycott the elections. He accused the incumbent government of electoral malpractice and added, "The incumbent government is going to be buried in a mass grave." The decision to boycott comes after 14 candidates withdrew their nomination papers for the Senate elections in Sindh, potentially paving the way for the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) to secure uncontested victories, particularly in the women's reserved seats. The PPP has nominated 11 candidates for the Senate elections, including Syed Masroor Ahsan, Syed Kazim Ali Shah, and Rubina Qaimkhani. Meanwhile, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has fielded just one candidate, Amir Waliuddin Chishti, for the general seat. Independent candidates, supported by the PTI, like Mehjabeen Riaz and Mir Raja Khan Jakhrani, were also initially in the running. However, the leaders have withdrawn from the electoral race. (ANI)
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