Senate election in Pakistan 2015
The 2015 Senate election in Pakistan took place on March 5, 2015. The representatives of the 52 senators whose mandate ended were elected.
Election process
The Senate elections were held for 48 seats. The remaining 4 seats have already been filled. The senators were elected on the basis of the residents in each province. Seven for Sindh , 11 for Punjab , 12 each for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan . The members of parliament elect two seats for the Islamabad capital territory . The members of the provincial government in FATA elect four senators. The Election Commission of Pakistan announced that 84 candidates for 33 seats from FATA and ICT are running. 22 candidates line up for 8 seats reserved for women. 18 candidates run for seats designated for technocrats and ulema. 8 other candidates run for seats intended for religious minorities.
Allegations of election manipulation
The Pakistani People's Party politician , Raja Riaz, announced at a press conference that voting slips for the Senate elections in the Punjab provincial assembly had been stamped. Other leading politicians accused the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf of stamping ballot papers according to their wishes. The chairman of the ECP took note of these allegations and ordered that Raja Riaz should provide evidence and forward it to the ECP. The polling officers in the polling stations in the FATA region spoke out in favor of postponing the Senate elections in the region. They were responding to a decree by President Mamnoon Hussain. The decree limited the number of votes for MPs from the Fata region to one vote. The PPP accused the PML-N of having deliberately passed the decree. The decree ensured that PML-N MPs from the FATA region would be elected and move into the Senate.
Result
The Pakistan Muslim League (N) won 16 seats in parliament after initial unofficial results. The Pakistan Peoples Party secured seven seats in the Senate. The Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaf secured five seats according to the results. The Muttahida Qaumi movement received four seats. The National Party and the Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party each won three seats in the Senate. The Balochistan National Party and the Jamaat-e-Islami (F) each secured a seat in the Senate. An independent candidate from Balochistan also received a seat in the Senate.
