ISLAMABAD: The scrutiny of nomination papers filed for elections for the Senate, the upper house of Pakistan parliament, will be held on March 19, Pakistani state media reported on Sunday, a day after the expiry of a deadline to submit candidatures.

Elected for a term of six years, Pakistani senators discuss laws and vote on them like other public representatives. However, half of the senators retire every three years and new ones are elected to replace them.

Members of the four provincial assemblies will elect senators for seven general seats, two women seats, and two seats for technocrats, including ulema, from each province as well as one seat for non-Muslims from both Punjab and Sindh provinces. 

In the federal capital, members of the National Assembly will elect members of the Senate on one general seat and one seat for technocrats, including religious scholars. According to the schedule, polling will be held on April 2.

“The scrutiny of nomination papers for elections on forty-eight vacant seats of the Senate will be carried out on Tuesday [March 19],” the state-run Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.

“Revised list of the candidates will be issued on the 26th of this month whilst the candidates can withdraw their nomination papers by 27th of this month.”

Pakistan’s Senate consists of 100 members, of which 52 retired this month. Senate elections will now be held for 48 seats as four of them reserved for erstwhile federally administered tribal areas have already been abolished after their merger with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Those who have submitted nominations on behalf of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) include former caretaker prime minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Finance Minister Aurangzeb Khan, Ahad Cheema and Mustafa Ramday.

Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has issued tickets to Murad Saeed, Faisal Javed Khan, Mirza Afridi, Irfan Saleem and ⁠Khurram Zeeshan.

The Pakistan Peoples Party, which is also part of the ruling coalition at center, has filed nomination papers of nine candidates for general seats, three each for women and technocrats, and two for minorities.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah told reporters on Saturday the PPP would release a final list of its candidates after the scrutiny of nomination papers.