Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari family members attend a ceremony after Mr. Zardari became the first Pakistani to be elected as Pakistan’s President for the second time. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Zardaris have overtaken the Sharifs to hold the record for having the most number of lawmakers from a family in Pakistani politics after President Asif Ali Zardari and slain former premier Benazir Bhutto’s youngest daughter Aseefa was elected unopposed as a member of Parliament.

Ms. Aseefa Bhutto Zardari (31), who is set to become the First Lady, had filed a nomination for the National Assembly seat NA-207 from the Shaheed Benazirabad (formerly Nawabshah) area of Sindh province for the bye-election scheduled for next month.

According to a notification issued by the Returning Office of the area, Ms. Bhutto Zardari was elected unopposed after three candidates who had filed papers against her withdrew their names from the contest. It left her with no challenger and she was declared a winner in her maiden electoral contest on March 29. The seat was vacated by her father Asif Ali Zardari after he was elected as the president.

Ms. Bhutto Zardari holds a bachelor’s degree in politics and sociology and a master’s in global health and development. She served as a goodwill ambassador for the polio eradication campaign in 2012.

With her victory, the Zardari family has six lawmakers at the national and provincial levels. Mr. Zardari is the country’s president, his daughter Aseefa, son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and brother-in-law Munawar Ali Talpur are Members of the National Assembly. Mr. Zardari’s sisters Faryal Talpur and Azra Pechuho are members of the provincial assembly in Sindh.

The Zardari family has the most number of legislators from a single family, breaking the record set by the Sharif family.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s elder brother Nawaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz Sharif have been elected MNAs. Maryam Nawaz Sharif is the chief minister of Punjab.

Both political families are very influential and have dominated Pakistani politics for decades.

Islamabad:

Aseefa Bhutto, the youngest daughter of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and late premier Benazir Bhutto, has taken a plunge into the country’s tumultuous politics by filing her candidacy for the bypoll at a National Assembly seat in Sindh Province vacated by her father.

Aseefa, 31, has been active in politics for some time but was kept away from parliamentary politics by her father Zardari, also the co-chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), until an opportune time.

Following her father’s inauguration as the 14th president of Pakistan, Aseefa is poised to become the First Lady, a position traditionally held by the spouse of the president.

Aseefa submitted nomination papers on Sunday in the bye-election for the NA-207 constituency of Shaheed Benzirabad district in the Sindh province.

Her father and president, Asif Ali Zardari, won the seat but vacated it after becoming president.

Aseefa has a resemblance to her mother, who was killed in a bombing and suicide attack in 2007 in Rawalpindi. Aseefa was then a teenager and suffered more emotionally as compared to her two elder siblings, Bakhtawar and Bilawal.

Bilawal, a former foreign minister, is the chairperson of the PPP.

It may be the reason that she was driven closer to her father, who, after becoming president, designated her the First Lady.

Although her 35-year-old brother Bilawal had already taken over the party, Aseefa is considered a natural heir to her mother, who took over the party after her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged in 1979 due to alleged involvement in a murder case.

The by-elections will be held on April 21, and Aseefa is almost sure to win. By becoming part of the parliament, she would strengthen her party and also family politics.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)