Ruling coalition gets two-thirds Senate control with six-seat win

ISLAMABAD: The coalition government ruling at the Centre has secured a two-thirds majority in the upper house of Parliament after winning five seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one from Punjab in Senate elections held simultaneously in both provinces on Monday.

The government has already gained two-thirds majority in the National Assembly following the distribution of the disputed reserved seats by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) among the coalition parties in light of the Supreme Court verdict.

How the magic number was achieved?

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led coalition government required 65 votes to accomplish two-third majority in the Senate. It needed six seats from KP to reach 65 up from 59 seats.

In a closely contested Senate election in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) secured six out of 11 seats, while opposition parties, with significantly fewer seats in the provincial assembly, managed to win five.

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The opposition parties –, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and Jamiat Ullema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) — won three general seats, one technocrat seat, and one reserved seat for women.  

The coalition parties won sixth seat from Punjab, where PML-N candidate Hafiz Abdul Karim secured a resounding victory in the Senate by-election held in the Punjab Assembly. He bagged 243 votes against the PTI’s Mehar Abdul Sattar’s 99.

Party position: PTI rises to second place

Following the Senate elections in KP and Punjab, the PTI has become the second largest party in the upper house of parliament with 22 senators.

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has retained its position as the largest party in the upper house of parliament with 26 members.

The updated party position shows that the ruling PML-N, with 20 senators, is now the second-largest party on the treasury benches and the third-largest in the overall Senate composition.

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The treasury benches now comprise 60 members, including five independent senators while the opposition camp holds 35 seats, including 22 senators from the PTI.

The PTI is backed by one senator each from the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) and the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM).

Among other parties, the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) has four senators, MQM-P has three, while the National Party and PML-Q each hold one seat in the Senate.

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On the opposition side, JUI-F holds seven seats, Awami National Party (ANP) has three, and one seat is occupied by an independent senator.

One seat — vacated by Dr Sania Nishtar — remains to be filled through a pending election.