Pak poll body announces Senate election schedule for 11 Balochistan seats

Islamabad [Pakistan]: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has unveiled the timetable for the Senate elections for Balochistan’s 11 seats, set to take place on April 2, as reported by ARY News.

In this electoral process, the Balochistan Assembly will have the authority to elect 11 Senators, comprising seven for general seats, two for women, and two for technocrats.
Candidates are permitted to submit their nomination papers to the Returning Officer (RO) on March 15 and 16, as per the provided schedule. The preliminary list of nominees will be made public on March 17, followed by the scrutiny of nomination papers by the RO, which will conclude by March 19, according to ARY News.

March 21 is the deadline for filing appeals against the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers. The appellate tribunal is scheduled to resolve these appeals by March 25, 2024.

Following this, the revised list of candidates will be published on March 26, and withdrawals are allowed until March 27. The polling will then be conducted on April 2 from 9 am to 4 pm within the premises of the Balochistan Assembly.

Earlier on the same day, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) secured victory in four out of six Senate seats in the by-elections.

In the National Assembly, polling took place for one vacant Senate seat from Islamabad. PPP’s candidate Yousaf Raza Gilani emerged victorious with 204 votes, while Sunni Ittehad Council’s candidate Chaudhary Ilyas Mehrban secured 88 votes.

In the Sindh Assembly, PPP candidates Jam Saifullah Dharijo and Aslam Abro won with 58 and 57 votes, respectively. These seats had become vacant due to the resignations of Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and Jam Mehtab Dahar of the PPP.

In Balochistan, Pakistan People’s Party’s Mir Abdul Qudus Bizenjo clinched victory with 23 votes. Additionally, Abdul Shakoor of Jamiat Ulema-s-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Mir Dostain Domki of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) emerged victorious from the vacant Senate seats in the province, ARY News reported.