ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced the schedule for elections of the Upper House of the Parliament on Monday.

According to the ECP schedule, polling will be held on March 3 to fill 52 Senate seats which will become vacant on March 11.

An official had earlier told Dawn that elections will be held for seven general and four reserved seats from each province, including two each for women and technocrats, four seats from Fata, two from Islamabad and two minority seats.

Read: Schedule for elections on 52 Senate seats next month

The ECP has asked political parties to submit their nomination papers on Feb 12 and 13 while the scrutiny of the papers will be done on Feb 16 and 17.

The final list of candidates will be issued on February 25.

Among the 52 senators retiring in March, 21 are from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), eight from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N), six from the Awami National Party (ANP), three each from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F), two from the Balochistan National Party - Awami (BNP-A) and one each from the Pakistan Muslim League - Quaid (PML-Q), Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and the National Party (NP). There are also six independent senators, including four from Fata, who will be bidding farewell to the Senate this year.

The prominent retiring senators are: Jahangir Badar, Sughra Imam, Rehman Malik, Farooq Naek, Maula Bux Chandio, Abdul Qayyum Soomro, Sabir Baloch, Nayyar Bokhari, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Raja Zafarul Haq, Mushahidullah Khan, Pervez Rashid, Syed Zafar Ali Shah, Prof Sajid Mir, Babar Ghouri, Afrasiab Khattak, Haji Adeel, Zahid Khan, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Haji Ghulam Ali, Hasil Bizenjo and Kalsoom Parveen.