Senate | Pakistan

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is grappling with internal discord ahead of the Senate elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as several senior party workers and leaders have voiced strong dissatisfaction over the allocation of tickets.

Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Faisal Karim Kundi has summoned a session of the provincial assembly on July 20, a day before the scheduled Senate elections in the province.

Tensions within Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have intensified amid reports of internal disagreements over Aleema Khan’s alleged interference in key party decisions, particularly regarding the nomination for a vacant Senate seat.

Governor Kundi says their target is to get five Senate seats from the K-P

ISLAMABAD - The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) yesterday issued the schedule for Senate elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab, setting July 21 as the polling date.

The Republican-led US Senate approved President Donald Trump’s mammoth domestic policy bill on Tuesday by the narrowest of margins, despite misgivings over delivering deep welfare cuts and another $3 trillion in national debt. Republican leaders had struggled to corral support during a record 24-hour “vote-a-rama” amendment session on the Senate floor, as Democrats offered dozens of challenges to the most divisive aspects of the package. But Senate Majority Leader John Thune was able to turn around wavering moderates to deliver a 50-50 vote, with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie. The sprawling text now heads to the House of Representatives, where it faces unified Democratic opposition and multiple Republicans baulking at the budget-busting costs, as well as slashed health care and food aid programmes for poor Americans. Trump’s bill proposes a $4.5tr extension of his first-term tax cuts, contentiously offset with $1.2tr in savings mainly targeting the Medicaid health insurance programme, as well as fe...

WASHINGTON DC: The Republican-led US Senate approved President Donald Trump’s mammoth domestic policy bill Tuesday by the narrowest of margins, despite misgivings over delivering deep welfare cuts and another $3 trillion in national debt. Republican leaders had struggled to corral support during a record 24-hour “vote-a-rama” amendment session on the Senate floor, as Democrats offered dozens […]

The Republican-controlled US Senate narrowly advanced President Donald Trump’s, sweeping tax-cut and spending bill on Saturday, during a marathon weekend session marked by political drama, division and lengthy delays as Democrats sought to slow the legislation’s path to passage. Lawmakers voted 51-49 to open debate on the 940-page megabill, with two of Trump’s fellow Republicans joining Democrats to oppose the legislation that would fund the president’s top immigration, border, tax-cut and military priorities. Trump on social media hailed the “great victory” for his “great, big, beautiful bill”. After hours of delay, during which Republican leaders and Vice President JD Vance worked behind closed doors to persuade last-minute holdouts to support the measure, Democrats demanded that the megabill first be read aloud in the chamber — a task that could delay the start of the debate until Sunday afternoon. Democrats say the bill’s tax cuts would disproportionately benefit the wealthy at the expense of social progr...

• Proposes raising purchase limit for filers from 130pc to 400pc of declared wealth • Tax approved on previously exempt luxury private clubs • Proposed e-commerce tax rejected; tax on online academies approved ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee has recommended raising the threshold limit for purchases made by “eligible individuals” — a new term for people who file their tax returns — and approved a measure to tax luxury clubs nationwide. The development came as the Senate and National Assembly Standing Com­mittees on Finance and Revenue held simultaneous sessions at Parliament House to conduct a clause-by-clause review of the Finance Bill 2025-26. Chaired by Senator Saleem Man­dviwalla and MNA Naveed Qamar respectively, both panels proposed several amendments and rejected some measures outright. The Senate standing committee expressed concern over the newly inserted clause in the Finance Bill, which restricts the “eligible person” from making any purchase exceeding 130 per cent of the wealth reflected in th...

ISLAMABAD: Barbs flew in the Senate on Friday with PTI and PML-N accusing each other of being involved in corruption. The two parties also held each other responsible for the economic mess the country was facing. Opening the budget debate in the House, Leader of the Opposition Syed Shibli Faraz said the government had set wrong priorities of public sector development. He said that while an allocation of Rs135 billion was proposed for water it was Rs227bn for roads. He alleged that it was because it was an easy way to make money. He said that the proposed federal budget for the next year had become controversial in the beginning as questions were being raised about the apparently fudged economic figures presented in the budget. “The sanctity of the budget and the numbers in the budget document appear to be compromised,” he said, adding that the budget is a manipulation of figures as serious objections have been raised over it for the first time. He underlined that agriculture contributed 24 per cent to GDP, wh...

Senate Chairman Yousaf Raza Gilani on Friday distanced himself from the massive hike in the salaries of senior parliamentarians including himself, saying he was not consulted before the raise was approved. The government recently approved a fivefold increase in the salaries of the Senate chairman and National Assembly speaker, taking it to Rs1.3 million a month. A May 29 notification revealed that the Senate chairman and NA speaker’s salaries have been raised from Rs205,000 to Rs1.3m, besides 50pc of the revised salary (Rs650,000) as the sumptuary allowance. The hike will take effect from January 2025. “I have full respect for the defence minister. I have nothing to do with my salary increase,” Gilani told reporters at the Senate building when asked about the hike amid an economic crisis and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif’s criticism of the move. The PPP stalwart said the decision regarding the raise will be made by the government. When asked if he would refuse the salary hike, he replied, “I didn’t say about ...

Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb on Tuesday presented the Finance Bill 2025 in the Senate, in line with Article 73 of the Constitution, inviting recommendations from the upper house on the government’s fiscal roadmap for the upcoming financial year.

ISLAMABAD - Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Tuesday laid a copy of the Finance Bill for the next fiscal year before the Senate amidst a protest by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led opposition benches.

ISLAMABAD: In a move that has raised eyebrows, the government has approved over fivefold increase in the salaries of Senate chairman and National Assembly speaker taking it to Rs1.3 million a month. A May 29 notification reveals that the Senate chairman and NA speaker’s salaries have been raised from Rs205,000 to Rs1.3m, besides 50pc of the revised salary (Rs650,000) as the sumptuary allowance. The hike, with retrospective effect, has become effective in January 2025. A senior NA Secretariat official, while confirming the development, said the raise for the two offices had been made for the first time since January 2016. Move draws criticism from within ruling PML-N; ANP demands its reversal In March, the salaries and allowances of federal cabinet members had been increased by up to 188pc. Earlier, the finance comm­ittees of the two houses of parliament had approved an increase in the salaries of MNAs and senators, raising it to Rs519,000. Senior PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique slammed the pay raise for the...

The U.S. Senate is set to move ahead next week with a bill imposing more sanctions on Russia over its three-year-old war in Ukraine, Senator Lindsey Graham said on Friday after talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, was accompanied on a visit to Kyiv by Connecticut Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal […]

The chairman of the Senate standing committee on finance and revenue, former finance minister Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, said on Tuesday that the upcoming budget will further burden the people due to an increase in the petroleum levy. He was also critical of the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) performance, especially in terms of the Tajir Dost Scheme (TDS). Under the TDS, taxes were to be collected from shopkeepers at a fixed rate of Rs100 to Rs60,000 per month based on the fair market value of the stores and sales. The scheme was implemented to bring traders and wholesalers into the formal tax structure to fulfill the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) requirement. The former finance minister said the FBR had failed to bring more people under tax net, while responding to a query on DawnNewsTV show ‘Doosra Rukh’ on the board’s inability to raise Rs5.6 million under the TDS. Mandviwalla criticised the “1960’s system” at the FBR and emphasised on the need to introduce officers who could use technology to imp...

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced the election for the vacant general seat from Punjab in Senate on May 29. The seat fell vacant following the demise of Senator Professor Sajid Mir on May 3, 2025, Associated Press of Pakistan reported. According to a notification by the provincial election commissioner, the nomination papers may be filed on May 14 and 15 for the election that will be held at the Punjab Assembly. The names of the nominated candidates will be published on May 16. The scrutiny of the nomination papers will be held on May 17 while appeals against their acceptance or rejection will be filed on May 20. The appeals will be disposed of on May 22. The revised list of candidates will be published on May 23, while the candidature may be withdrawn by May 24. The polling will be held at the Punjab Assembly chambers between 9am to 4pm. The nomination papers may be received from the Punjab ECP office on 10-Court Street in Lahore during the office hours. Notable religious and political ...

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued the schedule for the by-election on the vacant Senate seat following the demise of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Prof. Sajid Mir. According to a notification issued by the ECP, the polling will take place on May 29 in the Punjab Assembly building. According to the […]

KARACHI - Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians- PPPP’s Syed Waqar Mehdi won the by-election on the vacant general seat of the Senate from the province of Sindh held at the Sindh Assembly here on Tuesday.

PPP’s Syed Waqar Mehdi won the by-election held for the vacant general seat of the Senate from the province of Sindh in Karachi on Tuesday, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported. The ruling PPP and the opposition Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) had nominated Waqar Mehdi and Nighat Mirza, respectively. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) did not field any candidate and on Monday it announced boycotting the polling process as well. In the by-election held at the Sindh Assembly, Mehdi secured 111 votes, while MQM-P’s Nighat Mirza received 36, and two were rejected, said the returning officer, Provincial Election Commissioner Sindh Ejaz Anwar Chauhan. The polling was conducted from 9am to 4pm without any break. A total of 149 votes were cast during the scheduled polling time. The general Senate seat from Sindh province fell vacant after the death of PPP’s Senator Taj Haider on April 8 in Karachi. He was elected a senator on a PPP ticket from a Senate general seat in Sindh in March 2021 for a period o...