QUETTA: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced that the by-election for the vacant Senate general seat from Balochistan will be held on March 8.

The seat fell vacant after the resignation of Mohammad Qasim Ronjho, a senator of Balochistan National Party (Mengal) last week after the party chief’s instruction, as Mr Ronjho had voted for 26th constitutional amendment against the party decision in the joint session of parliament in October 2024.

BNP-M chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal had asked Mr Ronjho to resign from the senate seat for violating party discipline and decision. He was nominated by the party for the general seat in the Senate election held on April 2, 2024.

Interestingly, a female senator of the BNP-M, Naseema Shah, had also voted in favour of 26th amendment in violation of the party decision, she still represents her party in parliament.

The ECP has appointed the provincial election commissioner of Balochistan, Farid Afridi, as the returning officer.

The ECP issued a notice on Monday, announcing the schedule of the by-election. The collection of nomination papers is set for Feb 18 and 19. According to the schedule, the list of candidates will be published on Feb 20, scrutiny of the nomination papers will be finalised by Feb 22, appeals concerning the acceptance or rejection of nomination will be heard on Feb 25 and resolved by Feb 27.

A revised list of candidates will be released on Feb 28, followed by a window for candidates to withdraw their nomination papers until March 1. Polling is set to take place on March 8.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2025