ISLAMABAD – Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Saturday said that at least 78 candidates submitted their nomination papers so far with Returning Officers (ROs) for contesting election on Senate vacant seats to be held on March 3.
According to officials, 15 candidates have filed their nomination papers from Punjab, 20 from Sindh, 24 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 15 from Balochistan. As many as 16 nomination papers have been submitted for Women seats while five for Non-Muslim and 14 nomination papers have been submitted for Technocrats and Ulema seats.
He said that the commission has extended the date for filing nomination papers for senate election from February 13 to February 15 on written and verbal requests from various forums to facilitate the candidates.
He said that the ECP has appointed five Returning Officers for Islamabad and four provinces while the candidates can file their nomination papers on Saturday also with ROs.
He said that the polling will be held on March 3 on 48 seats, two in Islamabad, 11 each in Punjab and Sindh, and 12 each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan that will fall vacant on the expiration of the term of the members.
He said that the polling will be held from 0900 hours to 1700 hours simultaneously in Parliament House, Islamabad, and provincial assembly buildings in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
A public notice has already been issued by returning officers for inviting nomination papers. The nominated candidates will be announced on February 16, while the date for scrutiny of nomination papers will be February 17 to February 18.
The last dates for filing of appeals against acceptance or rejection of nominations will be February 20 while the dates for disposal of appeals by the Tribunals will be February 23.
The date of publication of revised list of candidates will be February 24 while the date for withdrawal of candidature will be February 25.
The commission called upon the members of provincial assemblies of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces to elect members against seven general seats, two women seats and two seats for Technocrats including Ulema from each province and one seat for non-Muslims each from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, which are going to become vacant on March 11.
PTI finalises candidates
The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Saturday finalized its list of candidates for the upcoming Senate elections with most of the nominees are party loyalists while some bigwig technocrats of the party have been refused opportunity to become members of the parliament.
Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry shared the complete list of 20 nominees of the party from all the four provinces and Islamabad Capital Territory through a Twitter post.
Earlier, PTI had formed its 13-member parliamentary board under the chair of Prime Minister Imran Khan to finalize the candidates.
According to details, Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh is a nominee of the party for a general seat from Islamabad while Fauzia Arshad will contest the election from the capital territory on a seat allocated for women.
From Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Information Minister Senator Shibli Faraz, Senator Mohsin Aziz, Senator Zeeshan Khanzada, Faisal Saleem and Najiullah Khattak have been nominated for general seats.
Dost Muhammad Mehsud and Dr. Humayun Mohmand have been issued tickets on the seats allocated for technocrats from the province.
Similarly, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Poverty Alleviation Dr Sania Nishtar and Falak Naz Chitrali are the nominees from KP on women seats. Gurdeep Singh has been issued a ticket to contest on a minority seat from the province.
On general seats for Punjab, PTI Chief Organizer Saifullah Khan Nyazee has been nominated from North Punjab, Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhary from Central Punjab and Managing Director Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal Aon Abbas Buppi from Southern Punjab.
Barrister Ali Zafar, who represents PTI from the lawyers’ fraternity, has been issued a ticket for a technocrat seat while Dr. Zarqa has been nominated on a seat for women, in Punjab.
For Sindh, Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda has been nominated on a general seat while Saifullah Abrro on a technocrat seat.
From Balochistan, Abdul Qadir has been nominated for a general seat and he will be the joint candidate of the PTI and the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP).
The ruling party has given the Senate tickets to many of its party loyalists including PTI Chief Organizer Saifullah Khan Nyazee, Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda, Information Minister Senator Shibli Faraz, party’s president of central Punjab Ejaz Chaudhry and MD Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal Aon Abbas Buppi. Similarly, those females who have been nominated on women seats are also considered loyalists of the party. Most of those nominated on technocrats’ seats have had also long association with the party.
But many of the technocrats who are working for the Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government and were aspirants for the Senate tickets have been ignored. These include Advisor to PM on Accountability Mirza Shahzad Akbar, Advisor to PM on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan, Advisor to PM on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, Special Assistant to PM on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill, and the Secretary Information PTI Ahmad Jawad.
According to a source in PTI, PM Imran Khan had decided that those technocrats already accommodated on major positions would not be nominated for the Senate.
The two technocrats including Minister for Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and SAPM on Poverty Alleviation Dr Sania Nishtar have been issued tickets despite they have had no long association with the party.
According to party sources, Nishtar has been nominated for her extensive work in the PM’s poverty alleviation programme—Ehsaas and to enable her to represent the government in the parliament.
Hafeez Shaikh is not a member of parliament and the PM had appointed him as finance minister in December last year following a judgment of the Islamabad High Court. Under the Constitution, he cannot remain a minister for more than six months until he is elected to one of the houses. His nomination of the Senate has been made to fulfil requirement of the Constitution.
PTI is set to become the single largest party in the Senate after its upcoming election that has been scheduled for March 3.
As many 52 senators, out of the 104-member house, are set to retire on March 11 while the election is scheduled to be held on its 48 seats.
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