ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced the schedule for elections on vacant Senate seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, setting July 21 as the new polling date.
According to a notification, a copy of which is available with Geo News, elections will be held for seven general seats, two seats reserved for women, and two seats for technocrats including Ulema.
The polling will take place at the provincial assembly building in Peshawar from 9am to 4pm.
In March 2024, the ECP declared in response to the applications of five women MPAs-elect of the opposition parties in the province that if the speaker of the provincial assembly fails to comply with the directions of the high court to administer oaths to the lawmakers elected to reserved seats, it would be compelled to postpone the Senate elections in the province.
As a result, on April 2, 2024 — when Senate polls were held in other provinces and Islamabad — the ECP officially postponed the Senate elections in KP until the oath-taking of the MPAs-elect on reserved seats.
In addition, the ECP has also issued the schedule for the Senate seat vacated after death of Senator Sajid Mir.
Meanwhile, the electoral watchdog has also announced the schedule for the Senate election on the vacant seat reserved for women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, following the resignation of Senator Dr Sania Nishtar.
In a separate notification, the commission called upon the members of the KP assembly to elect a new member for the vacant women’s seat in the Senate. Polling for this vacant seat will be held on July 31.
Nishtar, former special assistant to the prime minister on poverty alleviation and social safety, resigned from her seat in October 2024. Consequently, her seat has become vacant in terms of Clause 1 of Article 64 of the Constitution with effect from March 10 , 2025.
Moreover, the election commission also issued a schedule to fill two vacant seats reserved for women in the National Assembly from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
According to the notification, the seats fell vacant due to the exhaustion of the priority list previously submitted by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
Senate elections were held on April 2, 2024, wherein the ruling coalition clinched 19 seats in the upper house. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) took the lead with 11 seats, while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) clinched six seats. The Muttahida Qaudmi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) and an independent candidate Faisal Vawda secured one seat each.
