Senate elections 2024: Polling starts for vacant seats

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News Desk

2 years ago

ISLAMABAD: The ruling alliance — comprising PML-N, PPP, MQM-P and other smaller parties — is set to gain a two-thirds majority in the upper house of parliament as voting will be held on the 30 vacant seats today.

The National Assembly, Punjab Assembly, and Sindh Assembly polls will start at 9:00 a.m. and will continue until 4:00 p.m. In Balochistan, all 11 candidates have been elected without facing any opposition.

On the other hand, there is uncertainty surrounding voting in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly because of a dispute between the opposition and the provincial administration regarding the MPAs-elect’s oath-taking on the reserved seats.

On the eve of the vote, KP Speaker Babar Saleem Swati filed a review appeal with the Peshawar High Court (PHC) rather than following the court’s recent order to administer the oath to the legislator-elect.

“Everything is set up for the election to take place. Before determining the best course of action in regards to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Election Commission would closely monitor the relevant developments today, according to a senior Election Commission official.

He made it clear that if the MPAs-elect were not given the oath in accordance with the PHC order, the Election Commission would not budge from its decision to postpone voting to fill the open Senate seats in KP.

The source insisted that the electoral body would adhere to the Constitution and election laws, acknowledging that this was the first time the commission had encountered a situation akin to a crisis.

48 senators were to be chosen at the polls, with two from Islamabad, 12 from Punjab and Sindh, and 11 from each from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

But now that 18 senators from Punjab and Balochistan were elected without opposition, elections are being held to fill 30 seats, and 59 candidates are running to be elected to the Senate.

News Desk