Senate by-polls: Gillani triumphant from Islamabad as ruling alliance wins 5 out of 6 seats

Senate by-polls: Gillani triumphant from Islamabad as ruling alliance wins 5 out of 6 seats

Islamabad (Web Desk/Agencies): The ruling alliance at the Centre won five out of six seats in the Senate by-elections on Thursday with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) securing the majority of the seats.

PPP leader Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani regained the Senate seat from the federal capital.

According to unofficial results, Gillani defeated Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) candidate Chaudhary Ilyas Mehrban.

As per an unofficial tally, out of the total 301 votes polled, Yousuf Raza Gillani bagged 204 votes, while his rival Chaudhary Ilyas Mehrban received 88 votes. Nine votes were rejected.

The seat was fallen vacant following the victory of Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani as a Member National Assembly (MNA) in the February 8 general elections from Multan.

Meanwhile, total of 124 votes were cast for the two Senate seats in Sindh, out of which 123 votes were found valid. Both candidates of the Pakistan Peoples Party emerged victorious. Aslam Abro and Saifullah Dharejo won the seats with 57 and 58 votes respectively.

While Nazeerullah and Shazia Sohail of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) were only able to get 4 votes each. During the count, one vote was rejected.

The two Senate seats from Sindh had fallen vacant due to the resignation of Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and Jam Mehtab Dahar of the PPP.

In the Balochistan Assembly, out of 65 members, 61 participated in the voting.

A total of seven candidates were running for three seats.

Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo of the PPP secured 23 votes, Abdul Shakoor Gabol of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) received 16 votes, and Mir Dostain Domki of the PML-N obtained 17 votes, thus becoming senators.

These three seats had fallen vacant due to resignation of Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti, Prince Ahmad Umar Ahmadzai of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri of Jamiat-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).