Senate polls to be held on March 3
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday announced the schedule for holding the Senate elections, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
According to the ECP, the polling for the Senate elections will be held on March 3.
The polling in the elections for the Upper House of the Parliament will be held in the National Assembly and all the four provincial assemblies. The polling will start at 9am and will end at 5pm in the evening. The Returning Officers of the National Assembly and all the provincial assemblies will issue notices in this regard today.
Candidates for Senate elections can submit their nomination papers by February 12-13. The list of the Senate candidates will be issued on February 14.
The scrutiny of the candidates' nomination papers will be held on February 15 and 16. The objections of the candidates will be heard and settled on February 19 and 20.
The Election Commission of Pakistan will issue the final list of the candidates for the Senate elections on February 21.
February 22 is the last date for the candidates to withdraw their nominations.
Earlier, three different dates were proposed including March 2 (Tuesday), March 3 (Wednesday) and March 4 (Thursday) for the Senate 2021 polls, the sources claimed.
The ECP had already established Digital Facilitation Centres at its central secretariat and provincial offices for scrutiny of nomination papers of candidates for the Senate elections.
According to the ECP, with the support of online technology candidates' papers will be examined in coordination with all relevant departments including the Federal Investigative Agency, Nadra, National Accountability Bureau, Federal Board of Revenue and the State Bank of Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the commission has appointed Returning Officers and Polling Officers to conduct Senate elections.
The date was announced amid a controversy over the ordinance about open voting or secret balloting and the presidential reference case pending before the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The government is making all-out efforts for open balloting but opposition parties are opposing the move.
A total of 52 senators in the 104-member Upper House are set to retire on March 11 on completion of their six-year term.
They will also include four of the eight senators from the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) as the Senate strength will shrink to 100.
Therefore, polling will be held to elect 48 senators — 12 each from KP and Balochistan, 11 each from Punjab and Sindh and two from Islamabad.
Polling will be held to elect seven members on general seats, two women and two technocrats in the four provinces.
Besides, the election on one minority seat each in KP and Balochistan will also be conducted.
It is pertinent to note that over 65 percent of the senators who are set to retire on March 11 after completing their term belong to the opposition parties.
It may be recalled that the membership of the Senate, which was originally 45, was raised to 63 in 1977 and to 87 in 1985 and again raised from 87 to 100 in 2002.