ECP declares delimitations of eight Balochistan assembly constituencies null and void. PHOTO: FILE
The ECP dismissed all petitions that called for changes in the delimitations of eight constituencies of the Balochistan Assembly from Quetta and retained the limits of constituencies notified on May 3 by the commission.
The Balochistan High Court had nullified new delimitations carried out by the ECP for the Balochistan Assembly constituencies PB-24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 and PB-32 and ordered the ECP to redo the whole process anew.
On the petitions filed by the workers of Mehmood Khan Achakzai’s PkMAP, the BHC had decided the case earlier this month.
PkMAP to bring court challenge to delimitations
All the constituencies fall in Quetta district. If the ECP had to conduct delimitations afresh, it would have to go through all the process mentioned in the law. It could have taken more than two months to complete the process involved in delimitating constituencies.
This has removed the last legal hitch that could have delayed the elections.
Delimitations have been a contentious issue in the country. They are carried out after the population census in the country.
The ECP had conducted the delimitations in 2002 based on the 1998 population census. Legally, the country should do the population headcount every 10 years. But the exercise was carried out in 2017 after a gap of 19 years.
The ECP used the 2002 delimitations for 2008 and 2013 general elections by making the slight amendments. Official results of the last year’s population census are still not notified. As per the law, the ECP has done the delimitations based on the officially notified results of the census.
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Expecting the results will be notified by April, parliament through an amendment in the Constitution allowed the ECP to conduct the delimitations on the basis of provisional results of the 2017 population census.
Once the delimitations process was completed in March and new constituencies were put on display for public scrutiny, the ECP was inundated with hundreds of complaints.
It disposed of those complaints on May 2 and notified the delimitations of all national and provincial assembly constituencies the next day.
In the new delimitations, the number of seats allocated to the provinces in the National Assembly was changed. Fresh boundaries were marked for the National Assembly and the four provincial assembly constituencies across the country, making the population key factor.
Political parties, including many mainstream political parties, had however, reservations over the process.
Redrawing of constituencies according to census demanded
Many people affiliated with different political parties moved to high courts in all the four provinces. The majority of such cases were remanded back to the ECP with directives to hear the pleas of petitioners and decide them. However, the Balochistan High Court’s decision was unique in this respect.
It declared the delimitations of eight provincial assembly constituencies null and void.
The Supreme Court came to the rescue of ECP. It directed those who were opposed to the delimitation process to approach the ECP for remedy with clear directions that elections should not be delayed.
A three-member ECP bench comprising Abdul Ghaffar Soomro, Justice (retd) Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi and Justice (retd) Irshad Qaisar, after hearing the arguments of both sides cancelled the BHC decision on June 7.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday also cancelled another order issued by the Balochistan High Court in which it had made the transfers of two judicial magistrates – Asadullah, who was RO for PB-10 (Dera Bugti) and Shah Baran, RO for PB-16 (Jhal Magsi-cum-Kachhi) constituencies – without even consulting the ECP.
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