ZULFIQAR AHMAD
ISLAMABAD: The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Saturday issued the final list of its candidates for the upcoming Senate elections to be held on March 3rd after final approval by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
According to the list issued by the Central Secretariat of the party, the parliamentary board, which met here with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair, finalised 20 names for the Senate tickets.
Several big names, including Babar Awan, Shahzad Akbar, Amir Mughal, and Sajjad Turi, who were recommended for tickets, could not make the final cut for the March 3rd Senate polls.
From Balochistan, the name of Lt Gen (retired) Abdul Qadir Baloch has been given a ticket to contest the elections as a joint candidate of the PTI and the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) on a general seat, while de facto finance minister, Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh and Fauzia Arshad, were given tickets on the general and reserved seats respectively for the federal capital.
Gen Baloch, a former leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), had quit the party after his differences with Nawaz Sharif when he started criticising the military.
From Khyber-Pakhtu-nkhwa, Shibli Faraz, Mohsin Aziz, Zeeshan Khanzada, Faisal Saleem, and Najiullah Khattak were given tickets on general seats, while Dost Muhammad Mehsud and Dr Humayun Mohmand were given a go ahead to be the PTI’s candidates on technocrat seats.
Meanwhile, on reserved seats for women, the Ehsaas Programme fame Dr Sania Nishtar and Falak Naz Chitrali will be the ruling party's candidates, while Gurdeep Singh would be the PTI’s candidate on the reserved seat for minorities.
On general seats from Punjab, Saifullah Khan Nyazee (North Punjab), Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhry (Central Punjab), and Aon Abbas Buppi (Southern Punjab) have been given the PTI tickets.
Barrister Ali Zafar and Dr Zarqa are the ruling party’s candidates for the technocrat seat and reserved seat for women, respectively.
From Sindh, where the PTI is the second-largest party, Faisal Vawda has been awarded a ticket for a general seat while Saifullah Abro would be the PTI’s candidate for a technocrat seat.
Jamaat-e-Islami Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chapter also announced its names of candidates for Senate elections.
JI has nominated Maulana Dr Ataur Rehman, a former member of the National Assembly, for the general seat of the Senate, while Dr Muhammad Iqbal Khalil, a former district deputy Nazim of Peshawar, has been nominated for the technocrat seat.
Former MNA Inayat Begum has been nominated for the reserved seat for women, while Javed Gul has been nominated for the minority seat.
