Islamabad, July 4, 2025: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday released the long-awaited schedule for Senate elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Punjab, setting July 21 as the polling date for multiple vacant seats. These elections had been delayed due to an incomplete electoral college, a situation that arose after the K-P Assembly speaker refused to administer oaths to newly elected members on reserved seats.
According to the official notification, polling in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa will be held at the Provincial Assembly building in Peshawar for seven general seats, two seats reserved for women, and two seats allocated for technocrats and ulema. The elections, originally scheduled for April 2, 2024, were postponed following a months-long deadlock over the swearing-in of members elected on reserved seats, which rendered the electoral college incomplete.
In Punjab, the ECP has resumed the electoral process for two Senate seats that fell vacant due to the resignation of Dr Sania Nishtar and the death of Senator Sajid Mir. Polling for Senator Mir’s replacement will take place on July 21 at the Punjab Assembly building in Lahore. Meanwhile, the election for Dr Sania Nishtar’s seat will follow a separate timeline, with a public notice to be issued on July 9. Nomination papers will be accepted on July 10 and 11, followed by scrutiny on July 16, and polling scheduled for July 31.
In a related development, the ECP has also issued the schedule for the election of two vacant National Assembly seats reserved for women from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, previously held by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The returning officer will issue a public notice on July 8, and nomination papers can be submitted on July 9 and 10. Scrutiny will be conducted on July 14, and the final list of candidates will be published on July 24.
The commission has noted that the PML-N’s earlier priority list for women’s reserved seats has been exhausted, and the party has been directed to submit a fresh list to the returning officer by July 10.
To ensure the smooth completion of the electoral college before the Senate elections, the ECP has formally written to the speakers of the National Assembly and the concerned provincial assemblies, requesting that oaths be administered to all newly notified members on reserved seats without further delay.
