ECP to announce Senate polls schedule on Feb 11

The Election Commission of Pakistan on Wednesday said that it will announce the schedule for the upcoming Senate elections on February 11.

As per details, the commission has started issuing nomination papers to the candidates. The candidates representing different parties will have to show their party tickets at the time of submitting the nomination papers.

A total of Rs1.5 million will be spent on the elections.

It is worth to mention here that, a presidential reference, seeking opinion from the Supreme Court on open voting for Senate polls, is being heard in the top court.

The controversy surrounding the Senate elections started when on December 15, the PTI government decided to hold the elections in February, instead of March.

Following this, a debate was started in the cabinet regarding whether the government had the constitutional right to change the election date.

The federal government also decided to hold the Senate election through a show of hands.

The decision was made during a meeting of the federal cabinet presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Senate elections are held every three years and only the commission has the authority to organise them. The process is, however, spread over phases and takes roughly a month to conclude.