PESHAWAR: The provincial election commissioner on Thursday issued a public notice announcing the schedule for the forthcoming Senate elections in the province.

The PEC, Shamshad Ahmad, is the returning officer for the polls for filling the Senate vacant seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for which polling will be held in the KP Assembly on April 2.

The PEC called upon the members of the KP Assembly to elect members against seven general seats, and two seats each reserved for women and technocrats including ulema from KP province.

According to the public notice, nomination papers will be filed with the returning officer on March 15 and 16 following which names of nominated candidates will be published on March 17.

Last date for scrutiny of the nomination papers will be Mar 19, whereas the last date for filing appeals against acceptance or rejection of papers will be on March 21.

Last date for disposal of appeals will be Mar 25 after which revised lists of candidates will be published on March 26.

Nomination papers could be withdrawn by a candidate till March 27.

These seats have fallen vacant after completion of tenure of the then incumbents on March 11, 2024.

Those who completed their term on general seats include: Bahramand Khan Tanghi (PPPP), Faisal Javed Khan (PTI), Fida Mohammad (PTI), Pir Syed Mohammad Sabir Shah (PML-N), Mohammad Talha Mahmood (JUI-F) and Mushtaq Ahmad (Jamaat-i-Islami).

Two senators on women seats who completed their terms include Dr Mehr Taj Roghani (PTI) and Rubina Khalid (PPPP). Similarly, Azam Khan Swati (PTI) and Dilawar Khan (independent) completed their tenure against seats reserved for technocrats.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2024