The by-election for a Senate seat vacated after the disqualification of former PML-N leader Nehal Hashmi will be held on March 1, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced on Tuesday.

Hashmi, who was elected to a general seat on a PML-N ticket in 2015, was disqualified last week after being convicted of contempt of court.

According to a notification issued by the ECP, the Punjab Assembly will elect a senator from the province on the vacant seat.

The last date for filing nomination papers for the by-poll is February 13. The last date for scrutiny of nomination papers has been fixed for Feb 15, while Feb 17 will be the last date for filing appeals against rejection or acceptance of nomination papers.

The appeals will be disposed of by Feb 19. A revised list of candidates will be published on Feb 20, while Feb 21 will be the last date for withdrawal of candidature. The polling will take place on March 1.

The polling will be held at the provincial assembly building in Lahore.

Hashmi was formally denotified from his Senate seat last Friday by ECP, which was acting on a Supreme Court order sentencing the former lawmaker for contempt of court.

The ECP had announced Hashmi's denotification ─ effective from Feb 1 ─ through a formal notification.

Hashmi, who had in March 2017 lashed out at the Panamagate JIT and warned investigators that they would be "taken to task" for grilling the former premier's family, was sentenced to a month in jail and barred from holding public office for the next five years. He had also been handed a Rs50,000 fine by the apex court.