Daily Times

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday decided to conduct fresh delimitation of constituencies, making it almost certain that general elections may not be held within the constitutionally stipulated limit of 90 days.

The Election Commission opted to initiate the delimitation of constituencies following the approval of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) for the Digital Population Census 2023 and complete the process within four months.

The decision to the effect was taken during a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and attended by the ECP members, secretary and other officials, a press release said.

The ECP issued a notice seeking help from provincial governments and the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) in the delimitation process.

According to the schedule, delimitation committees will be established on August 21. Administrative tasks concerning delimitation will be concluded by August 31. Delimitation committees’ training is scheduled for September 1 to 4.

Allocation of district quotas for national and provincial assembly seats to delimitation committees will take place from September 5 to 7.

Delimitation committees will conduct the initial delineation of constituencies between September 8 and October 7.

Preliminary proposals will be made public on October 9. Representations on preliminary proposals can be filed between October 10 and November 8, and the Commission will address/hear these representations from November 10 to December 9. The final delimitations will be published on December 14.

It may be noted that after the CCI granted approval to the Digital Census 2023 results on August 5, an official notification was issued two days later.

As per Article 224 of the Constitution, it is stipulated that following the dissolution of the National Assembly or a Provincial Assembly, a general election to the respective Assembly must take place within 90 days of the dissolution. The National Assembly was dissolved on August 10, and subsequently, the provincial assemblies of Sindh and Balochistan were also dissolved.

Similarly, after each census, it is necessary to delimit the constituencies of the National Assembly and provincial assemblies. This process typically takes a minimum of four months to complete.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rejected the idea and announced it would challenge the CCI decision to notify the new census in the Supreme Court.

In a statement, the party spokesperson alleged that the schedule for the delimitation issued by the ECP was “malicious and a clear deviation from the Constitution”. The party added that if the National Assembly is dissolved before the completion of its tenure the Constitution clearly states that the ECP is bound to hold polls within 90 days.

“The Election Commission’s schedule is a criminal attempt to prolong the caretaker government contrary to what is written in the Constitution,” the party spokesperson said. It added that the poll organising authority after violating the Supreme Court’s order on elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is once again trying to “violate the Constitution”. “In light of the decision of the Council of Common Interests, the formation of new constituencies cannot be used as a justification to escape election,” the former ruling party further said. A “major irregularity”, it said, was committed in the CCI meeting when “illegal caretaker chief ministers of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa” attended the meeting.

The party also alleged that due to the PTI’s rising popularity, people were deprived of the right to vote. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) also opposed the decision, saying drawing new boundaries of constituencies is not a “constitutional requirement”. Reacting to the ECP’s announcement, PPP spokesperson Faisal Karim Kundi said the party has been demanding elections to be held as per the Constitution.

“There is no constitutional requirement to do delimitations but there is [a] constitutional requirement to hold elections within 90 days,” he added.