ECP unveils Senate polls schedule today

Seeks help of NAB, FBR, SBP, interior ministry for minutely scrutinizing candidates’ credentials

ISLAMABAD:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is going to announce the schedule for the upcoming Senate election today [Thursday]. The election for the upper house of the parliament is expected to be held on any date from March 2 to March 4.

According to sources, the polls supervisory body has decided to minutely securitize credentials of the candidates and has written letters the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Ministry of Interior in this regard.

The ECP has asked these watchdogs and departments to provide details about the candidates to the returning officers. It has also instructed them to appoint a focal person to facilitate the scrutiny process.

This year Senate election will be held on 48 seats. The number of senators who will retire after completing their six year term on March 11 is, however, 52. The ECP Secretariat in Islamabad and the ECP provincial offices have already started issuing the nomination papers for the polls.

After announcement of the election schedule, the political parties will also announce their respective candidates. The ECP has already issued notification for appointing returning officers and polling staff for the Senate seats in the federal capital as well in each province.

A digital facilitation center has also been set up at the ECP Secretariat in Islamabad.

The ruling PTI seems poised to emerge as the largest party in the Senate. But the 28 seats it is likely to end up with will not be enough to dominate the 100-member upper house and the ruling party can expect encounter stiff resistance to persist as it tries to get its bills to sail through.

Half of the Senate’s current members will complete their six-year term on March 11, leaving 48 seats up for grabs. While the upper house currently has a total of 104 members – half of whom retire every three years – the merger of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa means the four seats reserved for the former will retire with the Senators who hold them.

Although PTI is expected to secure a majority in the Senate following the upcoming election, full control of the house will likely elude it. With a projected 19 seats, the PPP is expected become the second largest party, followed closely by the PML-N with 17 seats.

This means two of the PTI’s staunchest political opponents and key constituents of the anti-government Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) will almost match the ruling party in the upper house.

Even if it counts on its allies, which include the BAP that is likely to end up with 13 seats, the numbers game in the Senate is likely to be more or less even with the combined opposition.

Although this will prevent the latter from bringing in its own Senate chairman, it will still mean the PTI will have to convince both its allies and the opposition to pass even the simplest legislation.