ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday officially announced the long-awaited schedule for the Senate elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab, which have been delayed due to an incomplete electoral college and other procedural delays.
The polling for 11 Senate seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be held on July 21, 2025, as confirmed by the ECP. This election will cover seven general seats along with two reserved seats for women and two reserved seats for technocrats and ulema.
The elections for these seats had previously been scheduled for April 2, 2024, but were delayed after the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker’s refusal to administer the oath to members elected to the reserved seats.
This delay in oath-taking led to the formation of an incomplete electoral college, which ultimately prompted the postponement of the elections.
Additionally, the ECP has also announced the election schedule for the Senate seat vacated by Dr. Sania Nishtar. The public notice for this election will be issued on July 9, 2025. Nomination papers can be filed on July 10 and 11, while scrutiny of the nomination papers will be held on July 16. The polling for this seat is scheduled to take place on July 31, 2025.
The election process for the Senate seat left vacant following the death of Senator Sajid Mir has also been resumed. According to the revised schedule, the returning officer will release an updated list of candidates on July 15. The deadline for the withdrawal of nomination papers is set for July 16, and the polling will be held on July 21, 2025, at the Punjab Assembly building in Lahore.
Furthermore, the ECP has also released the schedule for the election of two vacant women’s reserved seats in the National Assembly from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which were previously held by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). A public notice will be issued on July 8, with nomination papers to be submitted by July 9 and 10. Scrutiny will take place on July 14, and the final list of candidates will be released on July 24, 2025.
The ECP has instructed the PML-N to submit a fresh priority list for the women’s reserved seats by July 10, as the party’s previous list for these seats had already been exhausted.
In order to facilitate the completion of the electoral college, the ECP has also written to the speakers of both the National Assembly and the relevant provincial assemblies, urging them to administer the oath to newly elected members who were chosen on reserved seats. This step is crucial to ensure the electoral process runs smoothly.
The upcoming Senate elections are highly anticipated, especially after the prolonged delays and complications, and the ECP’s latest announcements set the stage for these elections to proceed as scheduled in the coming weeks.
