ISLAMABAD: PTI-backed independent candidate Khurram Zeeshan on Thursday was elected as a senator on the general seat from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
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.
A minimum of 75 votes were needed to win the seat.
Zeeshan won a total of 91 votes out of the 137 cast by KP lawmakers during the polling process today. He defeated opposition-backed Taj Mohammad Afridi, who was able to secure 45 votes.
Out of the 145-member KP Assembly, eight lawmakers did not cast their ballots, including four Awami National Party (ANP) leaders. One vote was rejected.
“Thank God,” Zeeshan said in a post on his Facebook account after his win.
“Our priority is Pakistan’s haqeeqi azadi (true freedom)”, the PTI leader told reporters outside the KP Assembly earlier today, echoing a phrase used by Imran.
Though three candidates were in the run for the polls, the main contest was expected to be between Zeeshan and Afridi. Irfan Saleem, another PTI-backed candidate on the electoral roll, was the covering candidate for Zeeshan.
KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi also took part in the voting process, with a post on his X account voicing support for Zeeshan.
The polling began at 9:30am and concluded at 4pm, with provincial election commissioner Saeed Gul as the returning officer (RO).
Zeeshan and Saleem had also been nominated by the PTI to contest the Senate elections in 2024, but the polls for seats from KP were postponed and later held in July this year.
Afridi, who hails from the Khyber tribal district, was in 2020 reported to be the richest senator with his assets declared for the previous year amounting to Rs1.22 billion.
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.
