Peshawar, October 30, 2025: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed candidate Khurram Zeeshan has won the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senate by-election, securing 91 votes, according to unofficial and unconfirmed results announced on Thursday.
His closest rival, Taj Afridi, supported by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), received 45 votes. The seat had fallen vacant following the disqualification of PTI leader and former opposition leader in the Senate, Shibli Faraz.
A total of five candidates contested the by-election, while one vote was declared invalid during the counting process. The polling took place inside the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, where provincial lawmakers cast their ballots to fill the vacant seat. The voting process remained peaceful throughout.
Following his victory, Senator-elect Khurram Zeeshan told reporters that his political struggle would now shift “from the field to the Parliament.”
“Our first target is Imran Khan’s release. There can be no stability in Pakistan until Imran Khan is freed,” he said.
Newly-elected Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi also cast his vote during the by-election. Earlier, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), he expressed confidence that PTI founder Imran Khan’s candidate would win with a “huge majority.”
The Senate seat became vacant in August, when the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) de-notified nine PTI lawmakers, including Shibli Faraz, following their convictions in the May 9 cases.
