Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Khurram Zeeshan was elected senator from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on a general seat.
Khurram Zeeshan won by securing 91 votes out of the total 137 votes cast, while opposition-backed Taj Muhammad Afridi managed to secure 45 votes, while one vote was rejected and 8 assembly members did not cast their votes.
There were 3 candidates in the fray for the general seat in the Senate by-election in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, which fell vacant after PTI leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Shibli Faraz was disqualified after being convicted in cases related to the May 9, 2023 riots.
Earlier, another PTI candidate, Irfan Saleem, who is on the electoral list, participated as a covering candidate for Khurram Zeeshan. Voting began at 9:30 am and continued till 4 pm.
Provincial Election Commissioner Saeed Gul acted as the returning officer for the polling.
A total of 145 members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly are eligible to vote for this Senate seat, while a minimum of 75 votes were required for success.
Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sohail Afridi also reached the assembly and cast his vote and said that Insha Allah Chairman Imran Khan’s nominated candidate Khurram Shahzad will win with a huge majority.
Independent candidate Abid Khan Yousafzai and PPP candidate Nisar Khan withdrew from the election, after a Supreme Court constitutional bench yesterday rejected Shibli Faraz’s lawyer’s plea to stop today’s by-election.
Shibli Faraz had challenged his disqualification and de-notification as a senator in the Peshawar High Court.
However, the High Court earlier this month refused to grant any relief to him and two other members of the National Assembly, and allowed the Election Commission to fill the vacant seats.
The court had asked Shibli Faraz to first appear in person before the relevant court, then apply for relief.
