Summary ECP has finalised arrangements for Senate election, PM will remain absent from voting process.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has finalised arrangements to conduct Senate polls today (Thursday).
The ECP has dispatched ballot papers to provincial election commission offices ahead of the scheduled polls.
The ECP has printed 4,000 ballot papers for Senate polls, of them 1,000 ballot papers have been allocated for the federation and FATA while the rest have been distributed among four provinces.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif will not be able to cast their votes in the Senate elections as they were heading to Saudi Arabia on Thursday on a three-day pre-scheduled visit.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, advisers Tariq Fatemi and Irfan Siddique are also part of the prime minister’s entourage.
At least 131 candidates will contest for as many as 48 seats of the Senate.
The political parties are forming coalitions with each other regarding the matter. Former president and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari called on Pir Pagara to discuss the matter. However, no candidate withdrew his nomination papers in Sindh and now at least seven candidates will contest for as many as eight seats.
Khawaja Saad Rafique met Akhtar Mengal and discussed seat adjustment in the Senate election.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Isam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman does not have confidence in PTI members that is why he raised the matter of 22nd Amendment in the Constitution.
Earlier, JUI-F, PPP and Awami National Party (ANP) had not accepted the show of hand method. On the last day of withdrawing nomination papers, as many as two PPP candidates from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) took their papers back while at least three Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) candidates from Islamabad withdrew their papers.
