Capital’s delimitation schedule revised

Election commission extends deadline to June 15


Danish Hussain April 29, 2015
Chief Election Commissioner Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza chairs a meeting of the ECP on Wednesday. PHOTO: PPI

ISLAMABAD:


The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday issued a revised schedule for delimitation of constituencies for local government (LG) elections in the capital.


According to the new schedule, delimitation will be completed by June 15, 2015, rather than May 30 — a deadline earlier announced by the ECP for the purpose.

LG elections in Islamabad are scheduled to be held on July 27, according to a proposed schedule submitted by the ECP with the Supreme Court of Pakistan on March 10.

Though the deadline has been extended by 15 days, the commission is of the view that it would not impact the election schedule.

“The date has been extended following the input of delimitation officers currently undertaking the exercise in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT),” said ECP spokesperson Khurshid Alam.

Alam explained the decision had been taken owing to lengthy procedures and hectic fieldwork involved in the process. He expressed hope that the extension would not affect the election schedule.

According to the new notification, delimitation in ICT will be done on the basis of the number of union councils (UC) notified by the Ministry of Interior on April 24.

The ministry notified a total of 50 UCs in ICT in its notification on April 24. But, on Wednesday, another notification was issued increasing the number of UCs to 79.

The ECP schedule states that the delimitation process will commence on May 15 with the preparation of a preliminary list of constituencies by delimitation officers, while the process will be completed by June 15.

The ICT Local Government Bill set population as major criteria for delimitation of UCs. The population is ascertained in accordance with the preceding census officially published in 1998.

Pending bill

The ICT Local Government Bill 2014 was approved by the National Assembly with a majority vote amid opposition from the Pakistan Peoples Party, envisaging local government elections in the federal capital to be held on non-party basis.

Although the ruling PML-N managed to sail the bill through the lower house, where the party is in majority, the bill is yet to be endorsed by the opposition-dominated Senate.

A few days ago, the bill was introduced in the Senate, which was later referred to a standing committee by its chairman Raza Rabbani for further deliberation.

Following approval from the standing committee the bill would be tabled in the Senate for final approval.

The Pakistan People’s Party aims to introduce a major amendment to the bill — changing its non-party basis election character in Islamabad to party-based elections.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30th, 2015. 

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