PM to oversee PTI Senate election campaign himself.

Byline: Syed Irfan Raza

ISLAMABAD -- As the Senate election is being held on Wednesday, Prime Minister Imran Khan has cancelled all his official engagements and decided to directly supervise the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's (PTI) campaign for the upper house's polls.

Finance Minister Dr Hafeez Shaikh, PTI candidate for a seat from Islamabad, on Sunday started canvassing for the election and went door to door to meet members of National Assembly in Parliament Lodges.

The government has again levelled allegations of corruption and misuse of authority against former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, the joint candidate of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) for the Islamabad seat.

'From tomorrow (Monday) Prime Minister Khan will only focus on the Senate election and will not attend any official meeting,' a source told Dawn on Sunday.

Hafeez Shaikh meets MNAs to muster support

The source said the prime minister would directly supervise the PTI's campaign for the Senate polls and meet MNAs of allied parties.

A tough contest between Mr Gilani and Mr Shaikh is expected on a Senate seat for Islamabad. The National Assembly is the electoral college for the seat and an interesting session of the house will be held on March 3 in which voting for the two candidates will take place.

Meanwhile, the MQM-P's absence from an important PTI reception in Karachi has raised eyebrows of many, particularly after Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari claimed that the MQM-P would support PDM candidate in the Senate polls.

When contacted, MQM-P leader and federal Minster for Information Technology Syed Aminul Haq said his party did not attend the reception due to its own engagements. He, however, categorically said the MQM-P would support the PTI and allied parties in the polls.

He said the coordination committee of the MQM-P met on Sunday and discussed Senate elections. 'The details of the meeting will be shared with the media later,' he said.

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