ISLAMABAD - A total of 166 candidates have filed their nomination papers for 54 Senate seats, for which elections will be held on March 2.
Against the twelve Senate seats for each province 25 candidates submitted nominations in Punjab, 32 in Sindh, 38 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 51 in Balochistan. Against two seats in Islamabad, four candidates have filed papers, while 16 aspirants have filed their nomination papers for four FATA seats.
On the two seats of Federal Capital, Mushahid Hussain Sayed and Usman Saifullah are the expected returned candidates while on four FATA seats, candidates would be elected unopposed to avoid horse trading.
In Quetta, Mir Asrarullah Zehri, president BNP; Naseema Ahsan, Mir Tahir Bezanjo, General Secretary National Party; PPP leader Javed Ahmed, Sardar Fatah Muhammad Hasni, Yousuf Baloch, Rozi Khan Kakar, Parveen Akhtar Mengal and Hina Gulzar while from JUI-F Hafiz Hamdullah, Mufti Abdul Sattar, Haji Manzoor Ahmed, Kamran Murtaza, Wali Kakar, Aimand Das and Sabeena Rauf, from PML-N Muhammad Akbar Uskani, Nawab Shah, Kishwar Ahmed and Agha Faisal while from Loralai, Sardar Haider Nasir and Rumeesh Kumar and Dr Ashok filed their nomination papers.
In Karachi Mian Raza Rabbani, Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Dr Karim Khwaja, Ajiz Dhamarah, Saeed Ghani, Sahar Kamran, Dr Shahida Rahmani and Hari Rehman of PPP, arrived along with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah. Sindh Election Commissioner Sohnu Khan Baloch said that on 12 seats in Sindh, 28 candidates have filed their papers.
In Lahore Aitzaz Ahsan, Aslam Gul, Babar Awan, his wife Yasmeen Akhtar, and others filed their papers. In Peshawar, Robina Khalid, Ahmed Nadeem of PPP, Zafar Iqbal Jhagra, Asif Kareem, and Nisar Muhammad Khan of PML-N, and Syed Qasim Shah of PML-Q filed their papers.
On four FATA seats, Dr Abdul Malik, Sajid Hussain Torri, Najmul Hassan, Jawad Hussain, Hidayatullah, Bismillah, Abdul Malik and Hussain Khan are the aspirants.
Applications would be scrutinised on February 16 and 17 and the final list of candidates would be displayed on February 24. the elections would be held on March 2.