ECP announces schedule of Presidential elections

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday announced the schedule for the presidential elections.

According to the ECP schedule, polling for the presidential election will be held on March 9 from 10 am to 4 pm.

The nomination papers can be submitted till 12 noon on March 2.

The Returning Officer (RO) will scrutinize the nomination papers on March 4 at 10 am whereas the final list of candidates for the presidential elections will be displayed on March 5 at 1 pm.

Sources said that Asif Ali Zardari will be presidential candidate of the coalition partners including the PML-N, People’s Party and other allies.

Sources shared that the election of the 14th President of the country will be held on March 09.

The PPP and the PML-N were agreed over the name of Asif Zardari to be elected as head of the state during their power-sharing dialogue.

Electoral College

The electoral college for indirect presidential election comprises of the members of the Senate, National Assembly and four provincial assemblies.

In the election, the Senate and National Assembly’s members votes are counted as single votes.

The votes cast by the provincial assembly legislators are adjusted so as to give each province an equal share in the election. Therefore, each provincial assembly has 65 votes equivalent to the strength of Balochistan Assembly, which has minimum number of members.

The weightage of the total members of other provincial legislatures will be decided according to fixed number of 65.