ISLAMABAD, Aug 16: The Election Commission announced on Friday the schedule for elections to the National and provincial assemblies to be held on Oct 10.
The Election Commission announced that the election to the Senate would now be held on Nov 12, exactly one month after the deadline fixed by the Supreme Court for holding of the NA, PAs and Senate elections.
The senator from Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) would be elected through direct vote on Oct 10.
Candidates have been asked to file nomination papers from Aug 19 to 24. Returning Officers would scrutinize nomination papers from Aug 25 to 31.
Candidates or their rivals would be able to file appeals against the decision of Retuning Officers, accepting or rejecting the nomination papers, till Sept 4.
Last date for withdrawal of candidature has been fixed at Sept 12. On the next day, Sept 13, the revised list of candidates will be published.
Polling for election to the National and provincial assemblies and Senate (only in the Fata) will be held on Oct 10.
The same programme will apply to the seats reserved for women and minorities in the National Assembly and provincial assemblies of Punjab, Sindh, the NWFP and Balochistan.
Official notification issued on Friday stated the position about the Senate election. It said it was earlier announced that the elections for the Senate would also be held on Oct 10.
A large number of people, political leaders and political parties had desired that the election to the Senate be held according to existing scheme of the Constitution, it added.
The original scheme for holding election to the Senate provided that the senators from the provinces were to be elected by the members of the provincial assemblies and from the federal capital by the members of the National Assembly.
“The election to the Senate cannot, therefore, be held till such time that the elections to the National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies are complete, the members have taken oath, the Speaker and Deputy Speakers have been elected and thereafter a reasonable period is provided for filing and scrutiny of papers,” the notification said.
The general seats for National Assembly had been increased from 207 to 272 after delimitation of the constituencies in the light of census results.
The government has also increased the representation of women in the National and provincial assemblies.
The elections would be held on joint electorate basis, first time after 1977 election.
Besides, the government has withdrawn its proposal for the withdrawal of the special seats for the minorities and has restored these.
Candidates on the reserved seats for women and non-Muslims will be elected through proportional representation system of political parties lists of candidates on the basis of total number of general seats won by each political party in a provincial assembly. The independents would have no say in the election of women seats.
The law provides that every political party would have to give a list of candidates for the seats reserved for women and minorities, in order of priority.
A political party securing less than five per cent of the total number of general seats in the National Assembly will not be entitled to any reserved seat for women or non-Muslims.
The Punjab Assembly will consist of 372 seats, including 66 reserved seats for women and nine for minorities. Similarly, the Sindh Assembly will have a total strength of 167 members, including 29 seats for women and eight for minorities. Balochistan Assembly will consist of 65 members, including 11 women and three minority members; and NWFP Assembly will consist of 124 members, including 22 women and three minority members.
The government has amended the Representation of People’s Act, empowering the Returning Officers to reject the nomination papers of any candidate on the basis of information received from “any source.”