ISLAMABAD: Polling for the Senate elections went under way at 9am across the four provincial assemblies and National Assembly and is expected to conclude without a break at 4pm today. 

Candidates are contesting 52 Senate seats from the provinces, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the federal capital.

Rangers and Frontier Constabulary personnel have been deployed outside the provincial assemblies and Parliament.

The four provincial assemblies vote for their representatives, whereas the FATA senators are elected by the MNAs from the tribal areas and the Islamabad senators by the National Assembly members.

A total of 20 candidates are contesting 12 seats from Punjab, 33 on 12 seats from Sindh, 26 on 11 seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 25 on 11 seats from Balochistan, 24 on four seats from FATA and five on two seats from Islamabad.

In Balochistan, ECP Member Abdul Ghaffar Soomro is monitoring the voting process, whereas ECP Member Justice (retd) Shakeel Ahmed Baloch is doing the same in Sindh and ECP Member Justice (retd) Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi in Punjab. ECP Secretary Babar Yaqub is monitoring the process in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. 

In the National Assembly, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq was the first in line to cast the vote for the senators from Islamabad.

'Nawaz will come out as the winner'

Addressing the media before entering Parliament, State Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb said a sea of people welcomes former prime minister Nawaz Sharif wherever he goes as he has served the public. 

"Never in any country?s history has an elected premier been removed on the basis of an Iqama [foreign work permit]. Despite no proof of corruption, he was still removed," she said, adding that, "Nawaz will come out as the winner in today?s elections". 

In response to a question regarding recent defections from the PML-N, the minister said history is a witness that those who have left Nawaz still suffer the consequences. 

'Imran Khan will not vote in Senate elections' 

Talking to the media outside the National Assembly, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Shafqat Mahmood said party chairman Imran Khan will not be coming to the assembly today. 

When asked for reasons, the PTI MNA said Imran has other commitments. 

Code of conduct  

The Election Commission of Pakistan issued a code of conduct on Friday, according to which no one would be allowed to carry mobile phones in the polling stations while the assembly members would only be allowed inside if they will be carrying their secretariat cards.

Moreover, the code of conduct also asks the MNAs and MPAs to ensure the secrecy of their votes.

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According to ECP, the returning officer would be given the authority of a level one magistrate under which he or she would be able to announce a punishment immediately after carrying out a summary trial against the violators.

The returning officer would also have the authority to cancel a ballot paper and immediately announce a punishment if it is being handed to an unauthorised person.

The punishment for violating the code of conduct includes a fine of up to Rs100,000 and/or a jail term between six months and two years.