Voting to elect 11 members to the Senate from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa began on Monday at the provincial assembly amid heightened political temperature and party negotiations over seat distribution.
As the unofficial results started trickling, it was announced that PTI’s Rubina Naz and PPP’s Rubina Khalid won the elections on women’s reserved seats. Rubina Naz secured 89 votes, while Rubina Khalid received 52 votes.
Moreover, PTI’s Azam Swati and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam’s Dilawar Khan have been elected to the Senate on technocrat seats. As per the initial count, Azam Swati received 89 votes, while Dilawar Khan secured 54 votes.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), polling began at 11am and was initially scheduled to continue until 4pm. However, the voting time was later extended to 5:30pm.
At the time of conclusion of polling, all 145 members of the assembly cast their votes, with the chief minister being the last to do so. A total of 22 candidates contested for 11 seats. Both the government and opposition participated in the elections under a 5-6 seat-sharing formula.
The Jirga Hall of the KP Assembly was designated as the official polling station, with two booths set up to facilitate the process.
As per the ECP’s final list, 16 candidates contested for seven general seats, five candidates for two technocrat seats, and four candidates for two women’s seats. However, several withdrawals reshaped the contest, particularly among the ranks of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
PTI, the ruling party in KP, fielded prominent candidates, including Murad Saeed, Mirza Afridi, Faisal Javed, and Allama Noorul Haq Qadri. Their rivals included Attaul Haq from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Talha Mehmood representing the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) nominated Niaz Muhammad, the son of party stalwart Amir Muqam. Other contenders included Asif Rafique, Azhar Qazi Mashwani, Dilawar Khan, and Shafqat Ayaz, while independents Faizur Rehman and Muhammad Azam Swati were also in the running.
