ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued code of conduct for elections on 52 seats of Senate, upper house of Parliament, being held today.
Polling will be held in all four provinces for provincial candidates and National Assembly of Pakistan for seats of Islamabad and FATA. The polling process will be continued from 9am to 4pm.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, 12 candidates will be selected from Punjab and Sindh each, 11 each from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan and four senators will be elected on general seats from Fata. Two candidates will be selected from the capital, Islamabad.
The polling for the election will be held in all the four provincial assemblies and National Assembly. Members of all the provincial assemblies will vote for their representatives, while MNAs from Fata will elect the four senators. Two senators from Islamabad will be selected by the National Assembly.
As per code of conduct, cell phone will not be allowed inside the houses while secrecy will also be maintained in polling votes. The ECP said that six months to two years imprisonment can be given on violation of code of conduct.
The Senate comprises 104 members in which 23 each are from four provinces, eight from Fata and four from Islamabad. The 23 seats allocated for each province comprise 14 general seats, four reserved for women, four for technocrats and one for a minority member.
On March 11, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) which has 27 seats in the upper house, will lose 18 senators while the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which has 26 senators, will lose nine seats. About five independent candidates will also complete their term while the PML-Quaid will be losing four seats.
The tenure of four senators from the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) will also end. There senators of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl will also retire, two of Balochistan National Party-Awami (BNP-A) two; one of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and one senator of the PML-Functional.
