The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced on Monday that Senate elections would be held on 3rd March, 2018. Election for 52 seats of the upper house will be held against the vacant seats that would be vacated by as many Senators on completion of their tenure in March
ISLAMABAD,(Pakistan Point News - 29th Jan, 2018 ) The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced on Monday that Senate elections would be held on 3rd March, 2018. Election for 52 seats of the upper house will be held against the vacant seats that would be vacated by as many Senators on completion of their tenure in March. With the announcement of Senate elections by the ECP, clouds of uncertainty over the much-awaited polls have cleared.
According to the ECP, polling to elect senators will be held on March 3 whereas nomination papers can be submitted from February 4-6 and their scrutiny will be completed by February 9. The holding of the elections has been the subject of controversy with government officials alleging that a conspiracy is afoot to deny the ruling party an increase in numbers in the Upper House of Parliament. According to the ECP, four senators will be elected on general seats from FATA, 11 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan each, and 12 each from Sindh and Punjab including seven on general seats, two on technocrats' seats, two on women's seats and one on a minorities' seat.
Islamabad too will elect two senators — on general and technocrat seats. Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani, Opposition Leader Aitzaz Ahsan, Taj Haider and Farhatullah Babar are among 18 of 26 Pakistan Peoples Party senators who will be retiring. Similarly, from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, nine of its 27 senators will be retiring this year. They include senior party leader and former finance minister Ishaq Dar, who has been in London on medical grounds since October last year while a corruption case is under way against him in the accountability court.
The PML-N however is certain to increase the number of its members in the Senate because of its strong position in Punjab Assembly. he Awami National Party will lose five of its six senators, including party veteran Ilyas Bilour and Karachi-based Shahi Syed. Similarly, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan will bid farewell to four of its eight senators, including Col (retd) Tahir Mashhadi, Nasreen Jalil and Dr Farogh Naseem.
The four PML-Quaid senators retiring this year include Mushahid Hussain Sayed, the head of the Senate Defence Committee. The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl will see three of its five senators leave. Azam Swati of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is the party's only senator who will be retiring in March and will leave behind six colleagues. The PTI is expected to gain more seats in the Senate due to its majority position in the KP Assembly.
The Senate consists of a total of 104 members, 23 each from the four provinces, eight from FATA and four from Islamabad Capital Territory. The 23 seats of each province break down into 14 general seats, four each for women and technocrats and one for minorities. While the total term for a senator is six years, half of the Senate retires after every three years. The senators from Punjab who will retire next year nclude M.
Hamza (PML-N), Kamil Ali Agha (PML-Q), Muhammad Mohsin Khan Leghari independent), Muhammad Zafarullah Khan Dhandla (PML-N), Saud Majeed (PML-N) in place of Malik Rafique Rajwana, Sardar Zulfikar Khosa (PML-N), Asif Saeed Kirmani (PML-N) in place of Dr Babar Awan, Aitzaz Ahsan (PPP-P), Mohammad Ishaq Dar (PML-N), Khalida Parveen (PPP-P), Nuzhat Sadiq (PML-N) and Kamran Micheal (PML-N). The 12 senators who will complete their six-year tenure from Sindh are: Murtaza Wahab (PPP-P) in place of Saeed Ghani (PPP-P), retired Col Tahir Hussain Mashhadi (MQM), Karim Ahmed Khawaja (PPP-P), Maulana Tanveerul Haq Thanvi (MQM) in place of Mustafa Kamal, Raza Rabbani (PPP-P), Mukhtar Ahmed Dhamrah (PPP-P), Syed Muzafar Hussain Shah (PML-F), Muhammad Farogh Naseem (MQM), Taj Haider (PPPP) in place of Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Nasreen Jalil (MQM), Saher Kamran (PPP-P) and Hari Ram (PPP-P).
The 11 retiring senators from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be Ahmed Hassan (PPPP), Baz Muhammad Khan (ANP), Haji Saifullah Khan Bangash (PPP-P), Azam Khan Swati (PTI), Muhammad Talha Mehmood (JUI-F), Nisar Muhammad (PML-N), Shahi Syed (ANP), Farhatullah Babar (PPP-P), Ilyas Ahmed Bilour (ANP), Rubina Khalid (PPP-P) and Zahida Khan (ANP). Four senators from Fata — Hidayatullah, Hilalur Rehman, Malik Najmul Hassan and Muhammad Saleh Shah (Independents) — and two from Islamabad — Osman Saifullah (PPP-P) and Mushahid Hussain Sayed (PML-Q) — will also retire next year.
The senators from Balochistan who will complete their term are: Muhammad Daud Khan Achakzai (ANP), Maulana Hafiz Hamdullah (JUI-F), Mir Israrullah Khan Zehri (BNP-A), Muhammad Yousuf (PPP-P), Nawabzada Saifullah Magsi (PPPP), Saeedul Hassan Mandokhel (PML-N), Sardar Fateh Muhammad Muhammad Hasni (PPP-P), Mufti Abdul Sattar (JUI-F), Rozi Khan Kakar (PPP-P), Naseema Ehsan (BNP-A) and Rubina Irfan (PML-N).
