ISLAMABAD, Jan 24: Senate Chairman Mohammadmian Soomro, Leader of the Opposition in the House Kamil Ali Agha and two federal ministers --- Farooq H. Naek and Waqar Ahmed Khan --- are among the 50 members of the parliament’s upper chamber who will retire on March 11 after completion of their term as senators.

Election Commission Secretary Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad told Dawn on Saturday that the schedule for the Senate elections would be announced in the first week of February and voting would take place in the first week of March.

Mr Dilshad said necessary arrangements had been made for the elections in all the provinces.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Q would be affected particularly badly by the electoral process. It would lose 17 seats in the Senate, with no chance of re-election for most of them.

The formation of a forward bloc in the party has added to its problems and according to experts the PML-Q would be able to win back just one seat and look for the second if it agreed on a formula with either the PPP or PML-N.

According to an announcement, the following Senators will retire:

From Islamabad, general seats: Mushahid Hussain Sayed. Women’s seats: Mrs Tahira Latif.

From Punjab, general seats: Sardar Mehmood Khan, Kamil Ali Agha, Mohammad Amjad Abbas, Syed Dilawar Abbas, Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry, Sajid Mir, Sardar Mohammad Latif Khan Khosa, Women: Mrs Saadia Abbasi, Mrs Razina Alam Khan. Technocrats and ulema: Dr Khalid Ranjha, Chaudhry Mohammad Anwar Bhinder.

From Sindh, general seats: Mohammad Amin Dadabhoy, Babar Khan Ghori, Muhammad Abbas Komaili, Mohammadmian Soomro, Asif Jatoi, Dr Mohammad Ali Brohi, Mohammad Enver Baig, Women: Mrs Rukhsana Zuberi, Bibi Yasmeen Shah. Technocrats and ulema: Farooq Hamid Naek, Nisar Ahmad Memon,

From NWFP, general seats: Waqar Ahmed Khan, Shujaul Mulk, Gulzar Ahmad Khan, Maulana Rahat Hussain, Sahibzada Khalid Jan, Haji Muhammad Adeel, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra. Women’s seats: Ms Aneesa Zeb Tahirkheli, Dr Kauser Firdaus, Technocrats and ulema: Dr Mohammad Said, Maulana Samiul Haq. From Fata, Rashid Ahmed Khan, Nasar Khan, Syed Mohammad Hussain, Abdul Malik.

Balochistan, general seats: Mir Wali Mohammad Badini, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Mir Mohammad Naseer Mengal, Haji Liaquat Ali Bangulzai, Syed Akbar Shah, Nawab Mohammad Ayaz Khan Jogezai, Raza Mohammad Raza. Women’s seats: Mrs Kalsoom Perveen, Ms Agha Pari Gul, Technocrats and ulema: Kamran Murtaza, Mumtaz Hussain Mehfooz.