Polling underway for 52 Senate seats across 4 Pak assemblies

Polling was today underway in Pakistan's four provincial and national assemblies to elect 52 members of Senate - the upper house of parliament, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Provincial and federal lawmakers are voting in the polling that started at 9 am and would continue till 4 pm without any break, the ECP said.
Strict security measures have been taken and paramilitary Rangers and Frontier Corps personnel and police have been deployed outside buildings of parliament house and the four provincial assemblies, which have been declared as the polling stations.
The ECP also barred cellphones or any other electronic devices in the assemblies so that the privacy of the polling is maintained.

The Senate has 104 members elected for six years but half of them retire every three years on completion of term.
New Senators are elected indirectly by provincial and national assemblies through proportional representation.

The 52 Senators retiring this month were elected in 2012. The other 52 were elected in 2015 and will serve until 2021.
The ECP has taken several decisions to ensure vote privacy during the elections. It said officers will ensure that no voter exposes his vote's privacy and neither be allowed to take issued ballot paper outside the polling station.
In case of non-compliance the controlling officer will cancel the ballot paper of such persons.

It was also decided that all controlling officers will have powers of full magistrate and they can suspend the electoral process by bringing such elements to ECP's notice in case of irregularity.
Officials said that 46 senators will be elected by the four provincial assemblies, 2 by the National Assembly, and 4 by lawmakers from tribal areas.