Punjab Senate election ends without a fight

Punjab Senate election ends without a fight 

Thursday, 19 Feb, 2009 | 02:52 AM PST | 
 
 
The three parties are referring to the unopposed senate elections as the beauty of democracy rather than back door dealing. - APP photo. 

LAHORE: All candidates vying for the 11 Senate seats from Punjab were elected unopposed on Wednesday after another four contestants withdrew their nomination papers as a result of an understanding reached between the three main political parties.
 
Six Senate seats went to the PML-N, four to the PPP and one to the PML-Q. 

PML-N’s Zafar Ali Shah, Mushahidullah Khan, Pervaiz Rashid and Raja Zafar ul Haq, PPP’s Jehangir Badr and Malik Salahuddin Dogar and PML-Q’s Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain were elected unopposed on general seats. 

PML-N’s Najma Hameed and PPP’s Syeda Sughra Imam were elected on women seats. PPP’s Muhammad Kazim Khan and PML-N’s Prof Sajid Mir were elected unopposed on the seats of technocrats. 

Those who withdrew their nomination papers were Ejazul Hasan, Aurangzeb Burki, Khawaja Akbar and Shahida Jabeen from the PPP and Zakia Shahnawaz from the PML-N. 

All three political parties had earlier agreed to field candidates as per their numerical strength. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani reportedly played the leading role in reaching the understanding. He also met Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to make the arrangement. PPP’s Jehangir Badr also met PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif to express his party’s desire to respect each others’ mandate and not field candidates against each other.

The PPP had also negotiated with the PML-Q to include it in the arrangement.

Meanwhile, talking to reporters at the Punjab Assembly, Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan said the arrangement was not a deal with the PML-Q. In fact the PML-N had obtained a lion’s share through the understanding, he said.