BAP's Sarfraz Bugti wins Senate seat

QUETTA: Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) candidate Mir Sarfraz Bugti on Wednesday was declared Senator-elect, bagging 37 votes from the Balochistan Assembly in the election for a vacant provincial Senate seat.

Rehmatullah Kakar of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) got 20 votes while two independent candidates, former caretaker Allauddin Marri and Ghulam Dastagir Badeni, were not polled any vote.

Some 57 out of 61 members of the assembly cast their votes.

Nawab Sanaullah Zehri of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind and Nawabzada Naimatullah Zehri of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Nawabzada Guhram Khan Bugti did not cast their votes.

The first vote was cast by BAP''s Dinesh Kumar and the last one by Balochistan Assembly Speaker Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo.

Chief Minister Mir Jam Kamal Khan also cast his vote.

The voting process was presided over by Provincial Election Commissioner Niaz Ahmed Baloch as the Returning Officer.

It may be added that PTI’s candidate Mir Amir Rind had withdrawn his candidature in favour of Mir Sarfraz Bugti.

The provincial Senate seat was vacated by Mir Naimatullah Zehri after his election as member of the Balochistan Assembly in the general election 2018. He was elected to the Senate as a PML-N candidate in 2015. Later talking to media persons, Senator-elect Sarfraz Bugti said he would raise the voice for the downtrodden people of Balochistan in Senate.

He thanked members of his party and allies for voting for him.

He urged the federal government to allocate more development funds for Balochistan.