Some members of the newly-formed federal cabinet have submitted their nomination papers for the upcoming Senate elections, including federal ministers for interior and finance Mohsin Naqvi and Muhammad Aurangzeb.
Former caretaker prime minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar and former federal minister Faisal Vawda, among others, have submitted their nomination papers for the Senate elections scheduled for April 2.
According to the election schedule issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), prospective candidates can submit nomination papers by Saturday, March 16.
Naqvi and Aurangzeb, who are not members of the lower or upper houses of Parliament, have submitted their nomination papers to become members of the upper house. Should they get elected, they can be designated asbe designated as full federal ministers.
Naqvi submitted two nomination papers hoping to contest polls as an independent candidate.
Sources suggest all four parties in the ruling coalition had proposed and seconded Naqvi's name as their candidate in the Senate elections. Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid's (PML-Q) Shafae Hussian and Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) Syed Ali Haider Gilani are the proposers, while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's (PML-N) Khawaja Imran Nazir and Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) Ghazanfar Abbas Cheena are the seconders.
Elsewhere, PML-N's Parvez Rasheed, Mustafa Ramday, and Ahad Cheema have submitted nomination papers. Rasheed will be contesting a general seat, while Ramday will be contesting a technocrat seat.
Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar's nomination papers have also been submitted from Islamabad.
PML-N's Nasir Butt and Talal Chaudhry are expected to submit their nomination papers as well.
From PPP, Faiza Malik has submitted nomination papers. On the technocrat seat, Advocate Amanullah Kazai has submitted nomination papers.
In Sindh, where elections will be held on 12 seats, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has submitted nomination papers for Amir Chishti, Abu Bakr, Najeeb Haroon, and Rauf Siddiqui. Faisal Vawda has submitted nomination papers as an independent candidate.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the ECP said 89 nomination papers had been submitted for 11 seats. These include Faisal Javed, Azam Swati, and Talha Mahmood, who are linked with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
For the first time in Pakistan's history, the upper house of Parliament became dysfunctional after the remaining half of the Senate retired earlier in the week. Elections for the remaining senators could not occur last year because two provincial assemblies had been dissolved.
However, elections on as many as 48 seats in the four provinces and the federal capital territory.
Of these, one general seat and one technocrat seat (including for Ulema) will be up for grabs in the Islamabad Capital Territory.
Seven general seats, two for women, and two for technocrats each will be up for grabs in all four provinces.
However, Sindh and Punjab will also elect one candidate each to a seat for non-Muslim minorities.