Lawmakers will go to the august house on April 2 to vote for the new senators contesting elections on a total of 48 seats.

But why only 48 seats out of the 100 seats of the upper house of Parliament. This piece will try to answer this question and explain the composition of the Senate.

Pakistan’s Parliament consists of the president and two Houses known as the National Assembly and the Senate under the Constitution of 1973.

The NA, also called lower house of Parliament, has a total of 342 members, including 60 seats reserved for women and 10 for non-Muslims.

The Senate consists of hundred members, including 23 members each from the four federating units, and four each from erstwhile Fata and Islamabad. 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.

The 23 seats allocated to a province comprise 14 general seats, four reserved for women, four for technocrats and one for a minority member.

Elections are held on 48 because half of the senators retired on March 11 after completing their six-year term. Eleven each from all the four provinces on general and technocrats seats, two from Islamabad and two minority members from Punjab and Sindh are up for grabs.