The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued a revised schedule for Senate elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with polling now set for July 21. According to an official notification, elections will be conducted for seven general seats, two reserved for women, and two for technocrats, including Ulema. Voting will take place at the KP Assembly building in Peshawar from 9 AM to 4 PM.
The Senate elections in KP were initially postponed in April 2024 due to pending oath-taking of opposition MPAs on reserved seats. The ECP had warned that failure to administer oaths as per court orders would lead to a delay. Consequently, while Senate polls proceeded in other provinces on April 2, 2024, KP’s elections were deferred until the oath-taking issue was resolved.
In addition to the general Senate polls, the ECP has also released schedules for two vacant seats. One seat became vacant after the death of Senator Sajid Mir, while another was left open following the resignation of Senator Dr. Sania Nishtar in October 2024. Polling for the women’s reserved seat will be held separately on July 31.
Furthermore, the ECP has announced elections to fill two vacant women’s reserved seats in the National Assembly from KP. These seats were left unoccupied after the exhaustion of PML-N’s priority list. The ruling coalition had previously secured 19 Senate seats in the April 2024 elections, with PPP leading at 11 seats and PML-N winning six.