ISLAMABAD, Feb 5: Elections to the 50 Senate seats falling vacant in March promise to be the most hotly contested in the country’s history, with the Pakistan People’s Party and its coalition partners eyeing the chairmanship of the parliament’s upper house.

According to the schedule announced by the Election Commission on Thursday, the elections will be held on March 4 and candidates will be able to file nomination papers from February 11 to 13. The papers will be scrutinised on the following two days and February 17 will be the date for filing appeals against rejection of nomination papers.

The appeals will be heard by the Election Commissioner and members of the commission on February 19 and 20.

February 21 has been fixed as the last date for withdrawal of candidature while the list of candidates will be published the following day.

Polling will take place simultaneously at the Parliament House, and in four provincial assemblies.

The elections will alter the complexion of the house which is now dominated by the Pakistan Muslim League-Q.

The PML-Q whose 17 senators will retire on March 11 is the single largest party in the house with 20 seats, followed by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) which will be left with seven.

The PPP has five while MQM and Jamaat-i-Islami have three members each.

There are five independent seats and one member each from Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Balochistan National Party (Awami), PML (Functional), Jamhoori Watan Party, Awami National Party and PPP (Sherpao).

Analysts are of the view that accords and understanding among political parties prior to the polls will play a decisive role in determining the future shape of the house.

A leader of the PML-Q said that despite speculations about a possible understanding with the PPP his party would most likely contest the polls on its own.

It is believed that the PPP was in a strong position to win six to seven seats from Sindh and up to three from Punjab.

The situation in Balochistan and the NWFP is uncertain and difficult to predict because horse-trading and vote selling has traditionally been the deciding factor in the two provinces.The analysts point out that Akram Wali Mohammad, who never visited Balochistan became a Senator from the province in 2003.

Another important factor in the province is a likely cooperation between the PML-Q and PML-N for the Senate election.

PML-Q vice-president Senator Mohammad Ali Durrani has urged all PML factions to unite before the polls, saying that this will enable them to win a large number of seats. PML-N secretary-general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra also supports the idea.

Those calling for unity among the PML factions have said that the united League will be able to grab more than 17 seats, making it the largest group in the upper house.

This will help the PML to get its member elected as chairman, with its strength of 40.

According to Senator Durrani, “The united PML will be able to bag minimum nine seats from Punjab, three from Balochistan, two from Sindh, one from the NWFP and two from the federal capital. This will take our total tally to 38 seats which is a significant number.”