Three candidates are vying for the Senate’s vacant general seat from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in today’s by-elections being held at the KP Assembly.
The seat had fallen vacant following the disqualification of PTI leader Shibli Faraz, who was the opposition leader in the Senate, after he was convicted in cases pertaining to the May 9, 2023 riots.
Though three candidates are in the run for the polls, the contest is expected to be between PTI-backed independent candidate Khurram Zeeshan and opposition-backed Taj Mohammad Afridi.
Irfan Saleem, another PTI-backed candidate on the electoral roll, is covering candidate for Zeeshan.
The polling, which began at 9:30am, will continue till 4pm. Provincial election commissioner Saeed Gul is the returning officer for the polls.
A total of 145 KP lawmakers are eligible to cast their ballots for the Senate seat, with a minimum of 75 votes needed to win.
So far, three votes have been cast.
Two other candidates — independent Abid Khan Yousafzai and PPP’s Nisar Khan — withdrew their candidature.
Yesterday, a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court had dismissed the request of Faraz’s lawyer to stay today’s by-polls.
Faraz had challenged his disqualification and subsequent de-notification as a senator before the Peshawar High Court (PHC). However, the PHC earlier this month denied him and two MNAs any relief, allowing the ECP to fill the vacant seats, and instead ordered them to first surrender before the relevant court.
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