ISLAMABAD: The Election Com­mission of Pakistan (ECP) is set to formally announce on Friday (today) the schedule for the upcoming Senate elections, but procedural hitches may force it to withhold polls for six seats from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Islamabad.

This was disclosed by ECP Secretary Babar Yaqub Fateh Muhammad during a press briefing on Thursday.

The Elections Act 2017, he said, was not yet extended to Fata by President Mamnoon Hussain, as required under Article 247 of the Constitution.

He pointed out that according to Article 59, the procedure for Senate elections should be determined by the president and that requirement was yet to be fulfilled.

Article 247 (3) of the Constitution reads: “No Act of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) shall apply to any Federally Administered Tribal Area or to any part thereof, unless the President so directs, and no Act of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) or a provincial assembly shall apply to a provincially administered tribal area, or to any part thereof, unless the governor of the province in which the tribal area is situated, with the approval of the President, so directs; and in giving such a direction with respect to any law, the President or, as the case may be, the governor, may direct that the law shall, in its application to a tribal area, or to a specified part thereof, have effect subject to such exceptions and modifications as may be specified in the direction.”

As per Article 59 of the Constitution, “the Senate shall consist of one-hundred and four members, of whom, (a) fourteen shall be elected by the members of each provincial assembly, (b) eight shall be elected from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, in such manner as the President may, by order, prescribe, (c) two on general seats, and one woman and one technocrat including aalim shall be elected from the Federal Capital in such manner as the President may, by Order, prescribe, (d) four women shall be elected by the members of each provincial assembly, (e) four technocrats, including ulema shall be elected by the members of each provincial assembly; and (f) four non-Muslims, one from each province, shall be elected by the members of each provincial assembly”.

The ECP secretary said if the Elections Act 2017 was not extended to Fata and the manner for Senate polls for seats from Fata and Islamabad was not prescribed by the president overnight, the commission would only issue a schedule for the Senate seats from all four provincial assemblies. He said a letter inviting the government’s attention to the matter had been written by the ECP on Jan 2, followed by reminders on Jan 9, 25 and 30.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2018