Manend Team 
ISLAMABAD, (MANEND NEWS): The Election Commission of Pakistan
(ECP) on Thursday released the schedule for holding the Senate
elections, announcing March 3 as polling day.
According to the notification, February 12 to February 13 is the time
frame for candidates to file nomination papers with the returning
officer.
For this purpose the below mentioned returning officers have been
appointed:
For Islamabad, Zafar Iqbal Hussain, Special Secretary Election
Commission Secretariat, Islamabad.
For Punjab, Ghulam Israr Khan, Provincial Election Commissioner
Punjab Lahore, Officer 10 Court Street, Lahore.
For Sindh, Aijaz Anwar Chohan, Provincial Election Commissioner
Sindh, Karachi, Office Block# A-44, Shahra-e-Iraq Sadr Karachi.
Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, Sharifullah, Provincial Election Commissioner,
Khyber Pakhtunkhawa Peshawar, Office Peshawar Golf Club, Cantt.
Balochsitan, Muhammad Raziq, Provincial Election Commissioner
Balochistan, Quetta, Office Barganza Villas, Street #1 near Zargoon
Road Quetta.
The names of the nominated candidates will be published on February
14, followed by the scrutiny process from February 15 to February 16.
February 17 and February 18 have been given as the dates for filing
appeals against the acceptance or rejection of the nominations. The
appeals will be disposed of by the tribunal on February 19 and
February 20.
On February 21, a revised list of candidates will be published with
February 22 as the last date for withdrawing candidature.
A total of 52 senators in the house of 104 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 seats representing FATA will not be filled due to merger
of the tribal areas with KP in May 2018, 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.
The Election Commission of Pakistan has reminded the political parties
to issue the formal party certificates to the nominated party
candidates so that they could enclose it with the nomination papers.
