Former caretaker prime minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar was among the candidates who submitted nomination papers for the April 2 Senate elections as the deadline to file them ended on Saturday at 6:00pm. Polls will be held through secret balloting.

He submitted his nomination papers for the vacant Senate seats from Balochistan, Associated Press of Pakistan reported. “On behalf of former PM Kakar, Senator Danesh Kumar submitted the nomination papers,” an Election Commission of Pakistan spokesman said.

The Senate consists of 100 members. Election to fill seats allocated to each province is held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.

The upper house of Parliament is not subject to dissolution but the term of its members is six years, says the website. Half of the Senate members retire after every three years and new ones are elected to replace them.

Punjab

As many as 28 candidates, including seventeen who filed for general seats, submitted nomination papers for 12 Senate seats.

Talal Chaudhry, Mohsin Naqvi, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Ijaz Minhas, Waleed Iqbal, Waseem Shehzad, Ahad Cheema, Pervaiz Rasheed, and Hamid Khan were among those candidates who filed their papers for general seats.

Sanam Javed, Faiza Ahmed, Anushey Rehman, and two others submitted their papers for women’s seats while Dr Yasmin Rashid, Mustafa Ramday, and another candidate filed their papers for technocrats seats.

Sindh

As many as 33 candidates, including members from PPP, MQM-P, and SIC, submitted their papers for 12 Senate seats.

Twenty filed papers for general seats, five each for women and technocrats seats, and three filed for minorities’ seats.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

A total of 25 candidates have submitted papers for seven general seats of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to the ECP.

At least 10 submitted their nomination papers for two seats of technocrat while seven filed for two seats for women.

Irfan Saleem, Muhammad Talha Mehmood, Dilawar Khan, Faisal Javed, Mirza Muhammad Afridi, Azhar Qazi Mashwani, Niaz Ahmed, Waqas Orkazai, Fazal Hanan, Asif Iqbal, Azam Khan Swati, Murad Saeed, Faizur Rehman, Khurram Zeeshan, Attaul Haq, Masoodur Rehman, and Shafqat Ayaz have their submitted papers for general seats.

Qazi Mohammad Anwar, Waqar Ahmad Qazi, Dr Hammad Mehmood Cheema, Khalid Masood, Fazal Hanan, Dilawar Khan, Qaizar Khan, Noorul Haque Qadri and Syed Irshad Hussain have submitted their papers for the technocrat seats. Azam Khan Swati has also submitted his papers for the technocrat seat.

Asif Rafiq, Mehmood Khan, Noorul Haque Qadri, Muhammad Naseem, Sajjad Hussain, Taj Muhammad Afridi, Ahmed Mustafa, and Fida Muhammad have submitted their papers for general seats.

Mehwish Ali Khan, Ayesha Bano, Rubina Naz, Rubina Khalid, Shazia, Syeda Tahira Bukhari and Hamida Shahid filed their papers for two women’s seats.

Balochistan

A total of 36 candidates, including Anwaarul Haq Kakar, from Balochistan submitted their nomination papers for the Senate seats.

Other candidates include Amil Wali Khan, former caretaker provincial minister Amanullah Kundarani, former senator Kahda Babar, former senator Naseebullah Bazai, JUI provincial leader Maulana Abdul Wasi, PPP’s Sardar Umar Gurgej, National Party Central Leader Jan Buledi, Changez Jamali, and MPA Raheela Durrani.

The Senate elections on 12 seats each of Punjab and Sindh; 11 each of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on April 2; and two Senate seats from Islamabad would be held on April 2.