There are speculation about schedule for Senate elections and nomination paper deadline.
Now, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has clarified that the deadline for filing nomination papers for Senate elections on 48 vacant seats will end on Saturday and the Senate elections will be held on April 2 to fill the vacant seats. March 19 has been set as the date for scrutiny of nomination papers.
As per the PEC, four candidates submitted their nomination papers for election to the Senate seats on the first day of submission of papers. The candidates are: Tariq Javed (minority seat), Waleed Iqbal (general seat), Dr Shahzad Wasim (general seat), and Talal Chaudhry (general seat).
A revised list of candidates will be issued on the 26th of this month, and candidates can withdraw their nomination papers by March 17, added the election regulator.
It is important to note that 52 seats in the upper house of parliament will become vacant after the expiration of the 6-year term of the incumbent Senators on Tuesday. However, the elections will be held to elect 48 senators as 4 reserved seats for the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) were abolished after the 25th Constitutional amendment.
Polling will be conducted to elect members against seven general seats, two women seats, two seats for technocrats (including Ulema), and one seat for non-Muslims from Sindh and Punjab. Additionally, lawmakers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan will elect members against seven general seats, two women seats, and two seats for technocrats (including Ulema).
Members of the National Assembly will elect one general seat and one seat for technocrats (including Ulema) from the federal capital, it was added.
The ECP had already appointed returning officers (ROs) in Islamabad and the four provinces for the conduct of the Senate election.
According to a notification issued by the election watchdog, ECP Director General Training Saeed Gul will be the Returning Officer (RO) in the federal capital, while provincial election commissioners Aijaz Anwar Chohan, Sharifullah, Shamshad Khan, and Muhammad Farid Afridi will be returning officers in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan, respectively.
The race for 12 Senate seats in Punjab officially commenced with the submission of nomination papers to the office of the Provincial Election Commissioner (PEC) Punjab.
