ECP issues Senate poll schedule for Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: Following the announcement of formal schedule of Senate elections in all four provinces, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Sunday issued the polling schedule for the two Senate seats from Islamabad.

The top electoral body is yet to announce a schedule for the elections of senators from Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA).

According to the ECP, the polling to elect legislators for the upper house of the parliament will be held on March 3.

Nomination papers for Senate elections in Islamabad could be submitted to the ECP till February 10 and the scrutiny of the nomination papers will be conducted on February 13.

Moreover, the contestants could file appeals against the returning officer’s decision on February 16, after the final list of nominees.

Election schedule in provinces

On Saturday, the returning officers had issued public notice inviting nomination papers in all four provinces. The ECP will be accepting submission of the nomination papers from today (Sunday) till February 6 (Tuesday).

The scrutiny process for the nominations from the provinces is to be completed by Feb 9 and the final list of the contestant will be issued later on Feb 15.

Following which the contestants could withdraw their nomination papers till February 16.

The Senate comprises 104 members, 23 each from the four provinces, eight from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and four from Islamabad.

The 23 seats included 14 general seats, four each reserved for women and technocrats and one for minorities.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) have invited applications for the elections.

52 senators’ six-year term ends in March

Those who are set to bid adieu to the Upper House are 12 each from Punjab and Sindh, 11 each from Khyber Pakhtun­khwa and Balochistan, two from Islamabad and four from the Federally Admi­nistered Tribal Areas (Fata) — will retire on March 11 this year.

Prominent among those who will retire include Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Leader of the Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan, Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Farhatullah Babar, Azam Swati, Kamran Michael, Shahi Syed, Kamil Ali Agha, Talha Mehmood, Tahir Hussain Mash­hadi, Nasreen Jalil and Ilyas Bilour.