PTI Faces Dramatic Upset on Islamabad Seat in Senate Elections

In a major upset in the Senate elections, PDM’s joint candidate on the seat of Islamabad Yusuf Raza Gillani clinched victory against  Hafeez Shaikh of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) with a difference of five votes to become a senator.

Gillani took 169 votes while Hafeez managed to take 165 while some seven votes were wasted.

Meanwhile, PTI’s Saifullah Abro has won the election on the technocrat seat from Sindh.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister of Pakistan on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill said that the government would challenge the result of Gillani’s victory.

غیر حتمی طور پر 7 ووٹ رجیکٹ ہوئے ہیں۔ پانچ ووٹ کا فرق ہے۔ ابھی اس نتیجہ کو چیلنج کریں گے۔

Just an initial response

— Dr. Shahbaz GiLL (@SHABAZGIL) March 3, 2021

Meanwhile, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto tweeted, “Democracy is the best revenge”.

Democracy is the best revenge. Jeya Bhutto!

— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) March 3, 2021

A controversial video emerged just hours before the Senate elections in which Ali Haider Gillani, the son of Yusuf Raza Gillani, was guiding PTI lawmakers on how to waste their votes.

Distribution of seats in 2021

Some 78 candidates from different political parties will test their lucks on 37 seats. There will be no election on 11 seats of Punjab as all candidates have been elected unopposed.

The four seats have also been subtracted from the election after erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) were merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Some 52 senators are retiring today and they will be replaced by new ones for a term of six years. The remaining 52 will retire in 2024 after completing their six-year term started in 2018.

The election through secret ballot would kick off at 9 am and continue uninterrupted till 5 pm.

The candidates include 14 from the PTI, 13 from the PPP, two from the PML-N, two from MQM-P, 11 from BAP, and one from TLP, and three independent candidates.

Sindh has a quota of 11 seats while each KP and Balochistan has 12 seats.

Fierce battle

The fierce battle was expected on one of two seats of Islamabad between Yusuf Raza Gillani and Hafeez Shaikh in which the latter came out victorious.

As the polling continued, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto said that the government was worried and it tried to delay the election.

“We have exposed PTI before the people”, he added.

Federal Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed predicted Hafeez Shaikh to be the winner against Yusuf Raza Gillani on Islamabad’s seat.

Yusuf Raza Gillani said that they have already won the election while PML-N’s Maryam Aurangzeb and PPP’s Khursheed Shah also claimed to defeat the government on Islamabad seat.

The masses have also given opinions as to who was likely to clinch victory on Islamabad’s seat.

After official results of the Senate elections, PDM’s joint candidate from Islamabad Yusuf Raza Gillani won against Hafeez Shaikh of PTI to become a senator.

Overall allocation

Some 23 seats in the Senate polls are allocated to each province in the upper house.

They comprise 14 general seats, four each reserved for women and technocrats and one for a minority member.

Code of conduct

Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued its code of conduct for the election and all public office holders have been barred from campaigning in favor of a candidate.

Horse-trading fears

A video clip and two or three unauthenticated audio clips have surfaced on the media in which the political leaders are allegedly trying to strike a deal with the members of the other parties.

The latest one is of Ali Haider Gillani who was guiding members of PTI on how they could waste their votes.

Ali admitted that it was him in the video but maintained that he just ‘guided’ his friends from PTI as they did not want to vote for Hafeez as they respected Yuusuf Raza Gillani.

یوسف رضا گیلانی کا بیٹا سینٹ میں ووٹوں کی خریداری کرتے اور ووٹ ضائع کرنے کے نسخے بتاتا پکڑا گیا۔یہ ہے پی ڈی ایم اور انکے متفقہ امیدوار یوسف گیلانی کا کردار۔ جس پر گیلانی صاحب فرماتے ہیں لوگ میرے کردار کو دیکھ کر ووٹ دیں گے#ہار_چور_ووٹ_چور pic.twitter.com/w1IFiY00T7

— PTI (@PTIofficial) March 2, 2021

Similarly, in an audio clip, Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah could be heard bargaining ‘rates’ of lawmakers who would vote against their party in the poll. However, he refused to admit it was him.

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The elections are now coated with a layer of controversies and would be held under the shadow of leaked audio and video clips.

Voting Method

The Senate elections will be held through secret ballot as the Supreme Court (SC) opined the same on the presidential reference filed to seek its opinion.

PILDAT’s view

Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) President Ahmed Bilal Mehboob backed the code of conduct for the Senate elections.

He added that the offices of the president and governors could not be used for gaining an edge in the elections of the upper house.

He ruled out that the related officials could campaign in favor or against any candidate.

Mehboob said that institutions and agencies have been largely accused in the past of siding with certain parties and enlisting of the fact in the conduct was thus appreciable.

PILDAT president said the measure taken by ECP would help in the transparent occurrence of the polls.

Ahmed Bilal was of the view that democratic values would consolidate as elections become more transparent.

He added that the provisions in the code of conduct are important but they would hold no value if not implemented properly.