F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will announce the schedule for the election on Senate vacant seats on March 14. As per details, the preparations have been completed for the polling for 48 Senate seats, scheduled to take place on the second of the next month (April).
After the merger with KP, the elections on the four FATA seats will not be held. “These seats have been abolished after the merger of tribal areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) under the 25th Amendment of the Constitution,” the ECP said in its statement.
Nomination papers about 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 (March 15, 16). Earlier, 52 senators retired on March 12 after completing their six-year tenure.
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.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Upper House (Senate) became dysfunctional for three weeks, as 52 lawmakers, more than half the strength of the upper house, retired including Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani, Deputy Chairman Mirza Afridi.
The schedule for Senate elections will be issued on March 14 while the nomination papers for elections can be obtained from Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) head office and four provincial secretariats.
While the nomination papers can be submitted to concerned ECP offices during March 15 and 16. As per law, the term of 52 Senate members, including Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, Deputy Chairman Mirza Afridi, Leader of the House Ishaq Dar, Leader of the Opposition Dr. Shahzad Waseem and Senator Raza Rabbani, ended on Tuesday. The term of 11 senators supported by PML-N, 13 by PPP, 7 by PTI, and two each from JUI-F, Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), and National Party have ended.
Four senators supported by Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), along with one senator from Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), MQM-P, and Pakistan Muslim League-F, (PML-F) have also retired.
Those who retired include, Moula Bux Chandio, Farogh Naseem, Dr Musadik Malik, Faisal Javed and Azam Khan Swati. Asad Ali Junejo and Mushahid Hussain Sayed representing Islamabad, have also retired from Senate. After the general elections, 6 Senate seats got vacant after the Senators won MNA seats. By-elections to fill these vacant seats will take place on March 14.
The term of a senator is six years and half of them retire every three years. The elections of new Senators normally take place days before the expiry of the senators’ term, but this time that could not happen. The new situation appeared came about due to the delay in holding general elections, in the absence of an electoral college caused by the failure of the ECP to hold timely general elections.
Meanwhile, the nine candidates including, Alia Hamza from PTI and Kamran Michael from PML-N, have received nomination papers for participating in Senate election from Punjab.
Senate elections are set for 12 seats in Punjab on April 2. Alia Hamza’s nomination papers for the Senate candidacy in Punjab were submitted to the Election Commissioner’s Office by her husband, Jameel Malik. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Alia Hamza and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Kamran Michael received nomination papers from the Provincial Election Commissioner.
In Punjab, elections are being held for 7 general seats, 2 women seats, 2 technocrats’ seats, and one minority seat. The schedule for the Senate elections will be announced on March 14. Candidates interested in contesting the elections have been asked to obtain nomination papers from the Election Commission headquarters and provincial election commissioners of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Nomination papers can be deposited with the relevant returning officers on March 15 and 16.
