January 2, 2003	Thursday	Shawwal 28, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 1: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice Irshad Hasan Khan on Wednesday announced a schedule for the conduct of Senate elections, a day after the president had approved dates for the polls.

An Election Commission (EC) announcement reads that filing of nomination papers by candidates will begin from Jan 8 and end at Jan 11, while scrutiny of the papers will be made from Jan 13 to 15.Appeals against the nominations can be filed on Jan 17, and such appeals will be disposed on Jan 20.

The EC has fixed Jan 21, as last date for the withdrawal of candidature, as on the next day a final list of the contesting candidates will be published.

Polling in Punjab, Sindh, the NWFP and Balochistan will be held on the respective assembly premises on Feb 4, from 9am to 4pm, while in the Federal Capital and Fata the elections will be held on Feb 8 at the National Assembly building, Islamabad.

The CEC has also appointed returning officers: Rahim Nawaz Khan Durrani for Punjab, Ahmad Ali Halepota for Sindh, Muhammad Altaf Khan for the NWFP, Abdullah Khan for Balochistan, Iftikhar Ahmad Qureshi for Fata and Muhammad Saleem Akhtar for the Federal Capital.

Appeals against the decisions of the retuning officers could be filed on Jan 17, with the provincial election commissioner concerned, and in case of provinces, Fata and Islamabad with the Election Commission secretary.

Justice Muhammad Ashraf Leghari will hear the complaints from Sindh, Justice Nasim Sikandar from Punjab, Justice Ahmad Khan Lashari from Balochistan and Justice Qazi Ehsanullah from the NWFP and Fata.

There are 22 seats for each province in the Senate, 14 general seats, four reserved for women and the same number for technocrats/ulema. Of the four seats of the Federal Capital, two are general, one for woman and one for technocrat/ulema while eight seats have been allocated to Fata.

The MNAs will elect members of the Senate from Federal Capital whereas the 12 parliamentarians from Fata will elect eight members for the tribal areas.

In case of the provinces, the MPAs will elect members of the Senate from their respective provinces.