Senate polls on 21st to fill 11 seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday announced schedule for polling on July 21 to fill the vacant 11 Senate seats allotted to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the chapter was closed in the reserved seats saga.  

Polling for these seats – general 7, women 2 and technocrats 2 – is possible now only after the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Bench nullified the July 14, 2024 verdict, under which the ECP was directed to allocate the reserved seats to the PTI in different legislatures in Pakistan.

However, both PML-N and PPP as well as the ECP filed review petitions that proved to be successful for the three aggrieved parties.

The reserved seats judgment also paved the way to complete the electoral college, which is mandatory for holding Senate polls.

CAN IT BE DELAYED?

But there is still one last formality. The newly-elected lawmakers on reserved seats needs to take oath. That’s why the ECP sent the lists to the National Assembly as well as the provincial assemblies of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

It has especially directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly secretary to make arrangements so that the new members can take oath – a prerequisite to enable them caste their votes.

Will the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Khan delay the process as the PTI is unhappy with the reserved seats verdict remains to to be seen.

But why? Because the ruling led by the PML-N is eyeing the Senate polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Securing six of these 11 seats will give a two-thirds majority in the Upper House of the Parliament.

It has already gained the two-thirds majority in the National Assembly after the reserved seats judgment.

So the success in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senate polls will provide an opportunity to the Shehbaz Sharif-led coalition to even introduce constitutional amendments, if and when required.

DEMORATIC RIGHT AND REALPOLITIK

Meanwhile, lots of things are happening right now in Pakistan, but particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but this whole process is linked to the PTI and the reserved seats judgment that has introduced a dramatic change in the composition of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

Read more: Disqualification reference filed against SIC’s 26 Punjab MPAs

The PTI says the unprecedented mandate it has enjoying in the province since 2013 is a proof of unwavering public support. That’s why Barrister Saif on Friday said that all the other parties in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have come to a “sad ending”.

But the rival say it is not that simple. They argue that the rise of PTI followed the systematic targeting of political workers, especially that of ANP, during the 2008-13 period at the hands of the Taliban. The absence of political parties on ground created a vacuum which the PTI filled in 2013.

Meanwhile, they also say that the process hasn’t stopped yet while the PTI now also has an added advantage of government resources.

On the other hand, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on Thursday described bringing a no-confidence against Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur as a democratic right and recalled that they had also changed a prime minister through the same process.

TWO OTHER SEATS

Meanwhile, the ECP has also polling dates for two other vacant seats in Senate.

One of these had fallen vacant in October 2024 after Sania Nishtar tendered her resignation in October 2024. Polling for this seat is scheduled July 31. She was elected from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on a reserved seat reserved for women.

Meanwhile, the other seat reserved for technocrats is from Punjab. It is vacant since the demise of Sajid Mir in May this year.

According to the ECP schedule, polling in the Punjab Assembly would be held on July 21.