Punjab Assembly to vote for two vacant seats of senate on Nov 15

ISLAMABAD: Punjab Assembly to vote for two vacant seats of senate on November 15, reads schedule announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday (today).

ECP declared both seats vacant after de-notifying two PML-N senators – Haroon Akhtar and Sadia Abbasi over dual nationality – in light of a Supreme Court verdict.

As per details, polling for the two senate seats to take place on November 15, in Punjab Assembly without any break from 9:00 am till 5:00 pm, whereas nomination papers can be filed with ECP till October 15.

Provincial Election Commissioner of Punjab, Zafar Iqbal has been appointed as Returning Officer (RO) for the polling.

The apex court on October 17 had disqualified the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senators – former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s sister Sadia Abbasi and Haroon Akhtar Khan – as members of the Senate over their dual nationality.

A seven-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold election on the two vacant Senate seats afresh.

It held that both the PML-N leaders had foreign nationality at the time of submission of their nomination papers for the Senate election earlier this year. They are disqualified as members of the Senate, the court ruled.