ECP steps up preparations for next general elections

Body ready to conduct polls by the end of this year, according to sources

ISLAMABAD:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has stepped up preparations for the next general elections and will be well-prepared to conduct the polls by the end of this year, sources said on Saturday. The electoral watchdog is carrying out delimitations as per the 2017 census results and has entered the final stages of preparing the initial lists of delimitations. It is expected to wrap it up by May 25. The ECP sources said that the preliminary delimitation will be published on May 28 while the objections to the preliminary delimitation can be submitted from May 29 to June 28.

Similarly, the demarcation work will be concluded and finalised by August.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has set up 20,159 display centres across the country for the publication of preliminary electoral rolls for the general election. Of these, 12,037 display centres have been established in Punjab, 3,609 in Sindh, 3,040 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 1,473 in Balochistan. The display centres would remain open from May 21 to June 19, 2022.

The centres have been set up across the district in government buildings, especially government-run educational institutions.

In case the general elections are to be held on the basis of a new census, the ECP will be able to carry out hold elections by the end of 2023. The ECP will need four months for fresh constituencies. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has set a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) plea against fresh delimitations to be carried out by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for hearing from June 6.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has previously returned the plea from the PTI against delimitations from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).