ISLAMABAD: In all, eight candidates have filed nomination papers for two Senate seats from Islamabad.

It was the last date for filing of nomination papers from Islamabad on Saturday.

Five candidates who filed nominations for one of the two general seats from Islamabad are Muhammad Asad Ali Khan Junejo, Fareed Hussain and Chaudhry Atif Fazal from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N); former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf’s brother Raja Imran Ashraf from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP); and Kanwal Shauzab from Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

Mushahid Hussain Sayed and Dr Tahir Mahmood of PML-N and Raja Shakil Abbasi of PPP have filed nomination papers for the seat from Islamabad reserved for technocrats.

Sources in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said that four candidates had so far filed nomination papers for four out of total eight Senate seats for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). They are Hidayatullah, Mirza Muhammad, Shamim Afridi and Sajid Turi.

Last data for filing nominations for Fata seats is Feb 12. The four will be elected unopposed if no more nominations are filed in next two days for Fata seats.

The ECP issued schedule for the upcoming Senate polls on Feb 2 with slight amendment to dates for submission of nomination papers already announced by it.

The commission, however, withheld the schedule for Senate seats from Fata and Islamabad, as the president had not by then extended the Elections Act, 2017 to Fata and determine the manner for polls on Senate seats from the tribal areas and Islamabad through two different orders, despite repeated reminders from the ECP.

The schedule for elections on two Senate seats from Islamabad was announced on Feb 4 and that for four Fata seats on Feb 6. It was for the first time in the history of the country that the schedule for Senate polls had been announced in parts. Though the dates for filing of nominations for seats from the four provinces, Islamabad and Fata were different, the polling is to take place on a single date: March 3.

The Senate comprises 104 members — 23 each from the four federating units, eight from Fata, and four from Islamabad. The 23 seats allocated to a province comprise 14 general seats, four reserved for women, four for technocrats and one for minority member.

The term of a senator is six years, but 50 per cent of the total members retire after every three years and elections are held for new senators.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2018