ECP announces delimitation schedule for next general elections

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced the delimitation schedule for the national and provincial assemblies for the next general elections.

From today, no new administrative unit will be formed anywhere in the country, the electoral body said in a statement on Monday.

The chief secretaries and provincial election commissioners are directed to provide required maps and other documents for demarcation work. Documents will be provided from April 11 to April 26. Training of delimitation committees will be conducted from April 20 to April 24. Preliminary delimitations will be published on May 28.

From May 29 to June 28, people will present their objections and recommendations to the ECP on the initial delimitation.

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The ECP will hear and decide all objections from July 1 to July 30. The final list of constituencies will be published on August 3.

The ECP last week decided to immediately start the delimitation exercise of all National Assembly and provincial assembly constituencies on the basis of the 2017 census and population statistics.

The decision came after a landmark unanimous ruling from the Supreme Court, which set aside then National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Suri’s ruling to dismiss the no-trust resolution against ousted premier Imran Khan and the subsequent dissolution of the lower house of parliament by President Arif Alvi on the premier’s advice.

The decision was made in an important meeting of the ECP which was held under the chairmanship of Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and was attended by the members of the Commission and senior officials.