The polling process to elect a senator on a general seat vacated by Sajid Mir has begun in the Punjab Assembly.

The Punjab Election Commissioner is acting as the Returning Officer. In this regard, the Punjab Assembly has been converted into a polling station, where aa ll preparations have been completed and formal instructions have also been issued to the members of the assembly.

According to the Election Commission, the Senate polling time has been fixed from 9 am to 4 pm. Voting will be held in the Punjab Assembly House through ballot papers under secret ballot, which is being held under Article 226 of the Constitution. , During the polling, members will be required to show their assembly card or national identity card to obtain the ballot paper. The names of the candidates on the ballot paper will be in Urdu alphabet, and voters will have to enter their preference in Urdu or English numerals. It will be necessary to give the digit “1” in the preferential vote, otherwise, the vote will be considered rejected. Writing the number “1” in front of more than one candidate, or making any mark or writing on the ballot, may invalidate the vote.

Carrying mobile phones inside the polling station during polling has been prohibited, and if a member brings one, it must be handed over to the polling staff. Voters have been instructed to cast their votes in a closed area, while talking to any other member or candidate during voting is also prohibited.

The House of Assembly currently consists of 369 members, as two seats out of the full 371 are vacant, and opposition member Mian Aslam Iqbal has not yet taken the oath. A candidate will need at least 184 votes to win.

The ruling coalition has a clear numerical advantage, with 261 votes at the moment, while the opposition has 108 votes. The PML-N has 229 votes, the PPP has 16, the PML-Q has 11, and the Sunni Ittehad Council has 75. The number of independent members is 28, the Utsaqat Pakistan Party has 7, while Tehreek-e-Labbaik, Majlis-e-Wahdat Muslimeen and the PML-N (Zia) have one vote each.

Hafiz Abdul Karim is the candidate from the ruling alliance in the by-election, while Mehr Abdul Sattar is in the fray from the opposition. Two independent candidates, Khadija Siddiqui and Ijaz Hussain, are also in the fray.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has directed all members of the PML-N parliamentary party meeting to ensure full attendance[1] and participate fully in the voting process. Maryam Nawaz said that this Senate election should not only be a matter of counting numbers but also a manifestation of democratic discipline and parliamentary unity.