Elections to be delayed as ECP announces delimitation schedule

• Entire process of delimitation will take nearly four months: ECP.
• Delimitation will be held from September 8 to October 7.
• ECP is bound to draw new boundaries after CCI approves new census.

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday announced the schedule of new delimitations to be carried out as per the new census approved by the Council of Common Interest (CCI) earlier this month.

As per the schedule, the new delimitation of the constituencies across the country will be notified in December this year.

The ECP schedule showed that fresh delimitation will take nearly four months, meaning the general elections in the country cannot be held within 90 days of the dissolution of the provincial and national assemblies.

The ECP said delimitation of the constituencies will be held across the country from September 8 to October 7.

It said the proposals regarding constituencies will be submitted from October 10 to November 8

The quota of constituencies of the national and provincial assemblies will be allocated from September 5 to September 7, the electoral body said.

It added that the administrative matters related to the constituencies will be completed by August 31 while constituency committees of four provinces including Islamabad will be established by August 21.

The electoral body said it will decide on the objections to the constituencies from November 10 to December 9, adding that the final publication of the digital census has been completed.

As per the Election Act, the ECP is bound to draw new boundaries for hundreds of provincial and national assembly constituencies across the country, the statement added. 

Earlier this month. the CCI meeting chaired by then prime minister Shehbaz Sharif approved the final results of the 7th Population and Housing Census 2023 reporting the country’s population at 241.49 million with a growth rate of 2.55%.

The CCI approval made it constitutionally mandatory for the for the ECP to hold elections following fresh delimitations in the light of the results of the 7th census.

According to Article 51 (5) of the Constitution, the seats of the National Assembly to each province and the federal capital shall be allocated on the basis of population in accordance with the last preceding census officially published. 

The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led government dissolved the national and provincial assemblies of Sindh and Balochistan prematurely to allow the ECP to hold elections in the country within 90 days instead of 60 days if the legislature completed its constitutional tenure.

Former federal ministers including Rana Sanaullah said that elections in the country can be delayed until March next year owing to the delimitation of the constituencies.

SC moved against CCI decision

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Wednesday filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking its orders for the ECP to announce a date for polls to the national and provincial assemblies as per Article 224(2) of the Constitution.

In its petition, the top lawyers’ body pleaded with the top court to suspend the August 5 decision of the CCI.

Raising questions over the decision made in the August 5 meeting of the CCI and SCBA said that the interim chief ministers were not eligible to sit in the meeting.

“The meeting of the Respondent No. 2 [CCI] took place on 05.08.2023, in the presence of the prime minister, the chief ministers of Sindh and Balochistan, the caretaker chief ministers of the Respondents No. 3 (Punjab) and 4 [KP] and other federal ministers,” read the petition.