Polling on 48 Senate seats to be held on April 2

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday announced that polling for 48 Senate seats will be held on the second of the next month (April), ARY News reported.

In a press release, the electoral watchdog said that 52 senators will retire on March 12 (tomorrow) after completing their six-year tenure.

However, 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.

Two senators will be elected from Islamabad, one each under the general as well as technocrat/Ulema category.

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The commission will issue the election schedule on Thursday. Nomination papers with regard to the Senate elections can be obtained from the Election Commission Secretariat Islamabad as well as the provincial elections commissioners of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

Candidates can submit their nomination papers to their respective Returning Officers on Friday and Saturday.