Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The deadline to submit nomination papers of candidates for the Senate elections scheduled to be held on March 3 ended on Thursday.

144 candidates submitted their forms to Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for 52 seats.

Out of the total 144, there were 34 candidates each from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) while 28 from Balochistan and 47 from Sindh, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) named Chaudhry Sarwar, Andleeb Abbas from Punjab while Faisal Javed, Major (retd) Fida Hussain, Azam Swati, Meher Taj Roghani, Khayal Zaman Orakzai and Ayub Afridi from KP.

Former finance minister Ishaq Dar is also among the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) candidates for the Senate polls.

Moreover, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has retained the name of Senator Raza Rabbani in its list.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) both fractions, Dr Farooq Sattar camp and the Rabita committee members,  filed nomination papers for their candidates separately.

The list of candidates will be published on Feb 9 while the scrutiny of the nomination papers will be completed by Feb 12.

Moreover, Feb 15 will be the last date for filing pleas against the rejection or acceptance of nomination papers and the revised list will be published by Feb 17.

Polling to elect Senate members would be held on March 3.

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.

Moreover, two senators, one general and one technocrat, will be elected from the federal capital.

A total of 52 senators are set to retire on March 11 this year after completion of their six-year term.

The PPP will lose 18 out of 26 senators including Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani, Opposition Leader Aitzaz Ahsan, Taj Haider and Farhatullah Babar while the PML-N, which has 26 senators, will lose nine seats. Former finance minister Ishaq Dar, who is in London these days, will also be retired.

The Senate comprises 104 members in which 23 each are from four provinces, eight from Fata and four from Islamabad. The 23 seats allocated for each province comprise 14 general seats, four reserved for women, four for technocrats and one for a minority member.