ECP announces schedule for Senate polls

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced on Monday that elections for 48 Senate seats would take place on April 2, following the expiration of the six-year term for the current Senators on Tuesday.

52 seats in the upper house of parliament will become vacant, but elections will only be held for 48 senators. The reduction is due to the abolition of four reserved seats for the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) following the 25th constitutional amendment.

The official schedule for the elections is set to be issued on March 14, according to the electoral watchdog. The polling will include seven general seats, two for women, two for technocrats (including Ulema), and one for non-Muslims from Sindh and Punjab.

Furthermore, lawmakers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Balochistan will participate in electing members for seven general seats, two women, and two technocrats (including Ulema).

Members of the National Assembly will elect one general seat and one technocrat seat (including Ulema) from the federal capital.

In preparation for the upcoming elections, the ECP appointed returning officers (ROs) for Islamabad and the four provinces.

Read also: All eyes on Senate elections now

Saeed Gul, the Director General Training of the ECP, will serve as the Returning Officer in the federal capital.

Meanwhile, Aijaz Anwar Chohan, Sharifullah, Shamshad Khan, and Muhammad Farid Afridi will act as returning officers in Punjab, Sindh, KP, and Balochistan, respectively.

In addition, by-elections for six vacant Senate seats are scheduled for Thursday, March 14. The polling will take place at the upper house of parliament, as well as at the Sindh and Balochistan assemblies in Karachi and Quetta.

These vacancies in the general category arose in the federal capital, with two in Sindh and three in Balochistan, as senators relinquished their seats after being elected as members of the National Assembly and provincial assemblies.

Former prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri recently joined the lower house of parliament, while Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar were elected to the Sindh Assembly.

Prince Ahmed Umer Ahmedzai and Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti became members of the Balochistan Assembly.