QUETTA: Two candidates of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) were elected senators in by-elections held at the Balochistan Assembly here on Thursday.
Abdul Rauf Lala of the PkMAP and Sardar Yaqoob Nasar of the PML-N returned victorious.
Two seats from Balochistan in the upper house of Parliament had fallen vacant following resignations by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islami JUI -F provincial chief Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani and Lashkari Raisani, a former senator of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
Members of the provincial assembly cast 52 votes out of total of 58.
Rauf Lala of the PkMAP secured 22 votes while the PML-N’s Sardar Yaqoob Nasar secured 24 votes.
Both candidates were elected with majority votes, while Wali Muhammad Kakar of the JUI-F only managed to receive 5 votes.
One vote was declared bogus by the provincial election commissioner Syed Sultan Bayazeed who announced the results as returning officer.
Speaking to reporters, newly elected Senator Abdul Rauf Lala said he would use all his political capabilities to raise the voice of Balochistan’s people in the Senate.
“We would try to convince the rulers in Islamabad to address the grievances of the people of Balochistan,” Lala said.
Sardar Yaqoob Nasar said he would apprise his party’s leadership about the miseries suffered by the masses of Balochistan.
Nasar said all out-out efforts would be made by his government to restore lasting peace in Balochistan, plagued by sectarian violence, a long-running separatist insurgency and other conflicts.