Election for vacant Senate seat from Punjab to be held on May 29

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced the election for the vacant general seat from Punjab in Senate on May 29.

The seat fell vacant following the demise of Senator Professor Sajid Mir on May 3, 2025, Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

According to a notification by the provincial election commissioner, the nomination papers may be filed on May 14 and 15 for the election that will be held at the Punjab Assembly. The names of the nominated candidates will be published on May 16.

The scrutiny of the nomination papers will be held on May 17 while appeals against their acceptance or rejection will be filed on May 20. The appeals will be disposed of on May 22.

The revised list of candidates will be published on May 23, while the candidature may be withdrawn by May 24. The polling will be held at the Punjab Assembly chambers between 9am to 4pm.

The nomination papers may be received from the Punjab ECP office on 10-Court Street in Lahore during the office hours.

Notable religious and political leader Senator Prof Sajid Mir passed away at the age of 86 after a heart attack. Mir, the head of Jamiat Ahle Hadith Pakistan, belonged to a suburban area of Punjab’s Sialkot.

Mir was elected as a PML-N senator in 2021, which was his fifth time contesting the Senate election on the party’s ticket. He had also served as a senator from March 2009 to March 2015.

On May 6, PPP’s Syed Waqar Mehdi won the by-election held for the vacant general seat of the Senate from the province of Sindh in Karachi.

The ruling PPP and the opposition MQM-P had nominated Waqar Mehdi and Nighat Mirza, respectively. The PTI did not field any candidate and announced boycotting the polling process as well.

In the by-election held at the Sindh Assembly, Mehdi secured 111 votes, while MQM-P’s Nighat Mirza received 36, and two were rejected, said the returning officer, Provincial Election Commissioner Sindh Ejaz Anwar Chauhan. A total of 149 votes were cast during the scheduled polling time.

The general Senate seat fell vacant after the death of PPP’s Senator Taj Haider on April 8 in Karachi. He was elected a senator on a PPP ticket from a Senate general seat in Sindh in March 2021 for a period of six years.