Senate elections: Voting comes to end, counting begins

By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 04 Jan 2023

ISLAMABAD: Polling for 37 seats of the Senate has come to an end and counting has begun.

The voting process began at 9 am as lawmakers started arriving at the Parliament House and Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan Assemblies to cast their votes. Shafiq Arain of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was the first lawmaker who cast his vote in the Senate elections followed by PTI’s Faisal Vawda.

Moreover, PTI’s Omar Ayub and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) senior vice president Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has also cast their votes.

In Balochistan Assembly, Zmarak Khan Achakzai was the first legislator who has cast the vote for Senate elections followed by Nawabzada Mir Tariq Magsi.

Shabbir Bijarani cast the first vote in Sindh Assembly during the Upper House polls.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has also cast his vote after arriving in the National Assembly.

Upon his arrival in the NA, the government lawmakers started raising slogan ‘Long Live Imran Khan’, however, the election commission officials immediately stopped them. The officials warned the legislators from strict action if the action was repeated in the parliament.

More than 200 lawmakers have so far cast their votes in the National Assembly.

Currently, the National Assembly has 342 seats for lawmakers from across the country. The ruling PTI holds 157 seats, PML-N 83, PPP 55, 15 MMA, MQM-P 7, BAP 5, PML-Q 4, BNP 4, GDA 3, AML 1, ANP 1, JWP 1, and four are independent members.