The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would announce schedule for Senate election on February 10 while polling for election of the chairman and the deputy chairman of the Upper House of the Parliament is likely to be held in March. Sources said that around 52 members of the Senate will complete their term and the new members of the Senate will be elected in March and they will also take oath during the same month. The ECP is finalizing the preliminary paper work in this regard, they added.
Some of prominent members who completed their term included Chairman Raza Rabbani, Aitzaz Ahsan, Ishaq Dar, Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Azam Khan Swati, Talha Mehmood, Shahi Syed, Ilyas Ahmad, Farhatullah Babar, Rubina Khalid, Zulfiqar Khosa, Murtaza Wahab, Tahir Mashhadi, Farogh Naseem, Taj Haider, Kamran Michael, Osman Saifullah, Hafiz Hamdullah, and Israrullah Khan Zehri.
Meanwhile, rumours are swirling around that the Senate election may be delayed or not going to be held in March. When asked about the legal positioning of the matter, former secretary of the ECP Kanwar Dilshad said that the law is clear and there is no ambiguity on this matter that the Senate elections will be held on time.
Under the Constitution, as per Articles 224 and 59, the ECP is bound to announce the schedule of the Senate election between February 10 and 12. The articles say that an election to fill the seats in the Senate which are to become vacant on the expiration of the term of the members of the Senate shall be held not earlier than thirty days immediately preceding the day on which the vacancies are due to occur.