- PML-N fields Rana Sanaullah for Punjab Senate seat.
- Nawaz Sharif awards Senate ticket to Sanaullah: Aurangzeb.
- Senate seat fell vacant after PTI’s Chaudhry’s disqualification.
PML-N senior leader and Adviser to the Prime Minister on Inter-Provincial Coordination, Rana Sanaullah, will contest the Senate by-election for the vacant general seat from Punjab.
In a statement, Punjab Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said: “(PML-N Supremo) Nawaz Sharif has awarded the Senate general seat ticket from the Punjab Assembly to Sanaullah.”
Election for the vacant Senate seat from Punjab to be held on September 9, she added.
The Senate seat was left vacant following the disqualification of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Ejaz Chaudhry.
In July, the Election Commission of Pakistan issued a notification of the disqualification of Senator Ejaz, who was handed a 10-year sentence by the anti-terrorism court.
The ATC in Lahore sentenced Ejaz Chaudhry and others to 10 years in prison over a May 9 riots case related to violence on Sherpao Bridge.
It is pertinent to mention here that a large number of workers and supporters of PTI staged almost countrywide demonstrations on May 9, 2023 — when PTI founding chairman Imran Khan was arrested by paramilitary troops on the directions of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in connection with an alleged corruption case.
The demonstrators destroyed public and private properties, attacked military installations — the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi and the Lahore Corps Commander’s House (Jinnah House) — and ransacked relics of martyrs.
Following the incidents, the civil and military leadership resolved to give exemplary punishment under the relevant laws, including the Army Act, to all those involved in hooliganism, arson, ransacking of public and private properties, attacking sensitive military installations and desecration of martyrs’ monuments on May 9.
The deposed prime minister, who was ousted from power via the opposition’s no-confidence motion in April 2022, has been facing a slew of charges ranging from corruption to terrorism since his removal as premier.
