The number game: ECP announces poll schedule for 12 Senate seats

Voting to take place on March 3 at the K-P Assembly premises.

PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced the schedule for the upcoming Senate elections for candidates from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday.

A statement issued by the ECP said the six-year long tenure of 12 senators from various political parties will end on March 15, leaving vacant seven general seats, two technocrats, two women and one minority seat. The retiring senators constitute about half the total strength of the province which has 23 seats in the Senate.

Those exiting

Among the retiring senators, six are from Awami National Party (ANP), five from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and one is from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).

From ANP, Zahid Khan, Abdul Nabi Bangash and Haji Mohammad Adeel will retire from the general seats, Farah Aqil Shah from women’s reserved seat, Afrasiab Khattak from the seat of technocrats and Amarjeet Singh from the seat for minorities.

Those retiring from PPP include Gulzar Ahmed Khan, Waqar Ahmed Khan and Sardar Ali Khan from the general seats, Adnan Khan from the seat for technocrats and Farhat Abbas from the seat for women.  JUI-F’s Haji Ghulam Ali will retire from the general seat.

Schedule

The schedule announced by the ECP says the returning officer will issue a notice regarding the polls on February 10 and the candidates can submit their nomination papers on February 12 and 13.

The scrutiny of the electoral submission will take place on February 16 and 17, while appeals against the rejection or acceptance of nomination papers can be filed with the secretary or a member of the ECP.

Decisions of the appeals will be announced by February 23 and 24 and February 25 will be the last day to withdraw the nomination papers, to finalize and issue the list of candidates.

Polling will take place on March 3 from 9 am to 4 pm at the K-P Assembly building.

The ECP has appointed Provincial Election Commissioner Musarrat Khan as the returning officer of the polls, while Director Elections Khushal Zada, Deputy Director Elections Riaz Ahmed Khattak, Spokesperson Sohail Ahmed and Syed Zahoor Shah have been appointed as polling officers.

The number game

Presently, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its allies, including Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Awami Jamhoori Ittehad Pakistan (AJIP), have at least 71 lawmakers in the house of 124. Out of the lawmakers, 56 members are from PTI, five from AJIP, eight from JI and two are pro-treasury independents.

Among opposition members, 10 are from QWP, 17 from JUI-F, 16 from PML-N and five each from ANP and PPP.

The minimum number of votes a candidate must have to get a general seat in the Senate is 16. Technocrats and women require at least 42 lawmakers to vote for each and minority members need 63 votes.

Roughly put, the strength of the ruling coalition government in K-P suggests it can win four general, one women’s, one technocrat’s and a minority seat, while the opposition can win three general, one women’s and one technocrat’s seats.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2015.