****ISLAMABAD: With 52 senators having retired following the completion of their term, the electoral organisation, Monday, announced to issue the schedule for Senate polls on the reduced number of 48 Senate seats this Thursday— which coincides with by-elections on six Senate seats— scheduled the same day.****

Expected in the next month’s first week, the Senate elections are being held on 12 seats of Punjab and Sindh each, 11 seats of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan each, and two seats of Islamabad.

Each province has seven general seats and two seats each reserved for women and ulema/technocrats where Senate elections are being held.

In Punjab and Sindh, elections are also scheduled on one seat each reserved for non-Muslims.

Islamabad has two seats; general and ulema/technocrats, where elections are scheduled.

Overall, the Senate elections are taking place on 29 general seats, 9 ulema/technocrats seats, eight women seats and two non-Muslim seats, according to Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The retiring senators include those from mainstream political parties including 13 from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), 11 from Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and seven from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Before March 2018 Senate elections, the Senate had 104 seats which are being reduced phase-wise to 96 seats—with four Senate seats abolished in 2018 Senate elections and four being abolished in the upcoming Senate elections— in accordance with 25th Amendment, passed by the Parliament in December 2016, that envisaged abolition of eight seats of erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in Senate, due to FATA’s merger into KP.

Among the prominent senators who have retired include Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani, Deputy Chairman Mirza Muhammad Afridi, Leader of the House Ishaq Dar, Leader of the Opposition Dr Shahzad Waseem, former chairman Senate Raza Rabbani, Farogh Naseem, Asif Kirmani, Faisal Javed Khan, Moula Bux Chandio, Azam Swati, Talha Mahmood, Musadik Malik, Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Mushtaq Ahmed Khan, Rubina Khalid, Seemee Ezdi, Mehr Taj Roghani, Muzaffar Hussain Shah, Sabir Shah, Walid Iqbal among others.

Former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and former caretaker PM Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar are among the former senators who quit Senate before retirement. Kakar, who was due to retire yesterday, quit Senate last year when he was elevated as the caretaker PM.

Gilani was due to retire as a senator in March 2027 but he quit following his election as Member National Assembly (MNA) in the February 8 general elections.

However, Gilani, who is regarded as a strong candidate for chairman Senate slot, is again the candidate for the upcoming Senate elections on Islamabad’s general seat, against Chaudhary Ilyas Mehrban of Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), for March 14 by-elections. Gilani had vacated this seat after retaining NA seat.

Apart from Islamabad, the other five seats where by-elections are scheduled, comprise of three seats of Balochistan and two seats of Sindh.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024