ECP issues election schedule for 48 Senate seats

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday issued schedule for elections on forty-eight vacant seats of the Senate, ARY News reported.

According to the schedule, polling will be held on the second of next month from 9 am to 4 pm. The candidates can file their nomination papers with the returning officers from tomorrow till Saturday.

Whereas the 19th of this month has been fixed for the scrutiny of nomination papers. A revised list of the candidates will be issued on the 26th of this month whilst the candidates can withdraw their nomination papers by the 27th of this month.

In the federal capital, members of the National Assembly will elect members of the Senate against one general seat and one seat for technocrats including Ulema.

Members of the four provincial assemblies will elect Senators for seven general seats, two women seats, and two seats for technocrats including Ulema from each province, as well as one seat for non-Muslims from both Punjab and Sindh provinces.

These seats became vacant after expiration of the term of the incumbent members on the 11th of this month.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced that polling for 48 Senate seats will be held on the second of the next month (April).

The electoral watchdog said that election will not be carried out on four seats reserved for the erstwhile tribal areas. “These seats have been abolished after the merger of tribal areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) under the 25th Amendment of the Constitution,” read the statement.

According to the ECP, the Senate polls will be carried out on seven general seats, two women seats, two technocrat seats and one minority seat in Punjab.

It added that the elections will be contested on 12 seats in Sindh as well in the aforementioned denomination while in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, the polls will only be carried out on 11 seats.