ECP pledges to expedite delimitations

Poll schedule to be announced thereafter

ISLAMABAD:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday vowed to expedite the delimitation of constituencies and announce a schedule for the upcoming general polls thereafter, alleviating concerns that the ballot could be deferred for an indefinite period to extend the rule of the interim government.

The election supervisor gave the assurance to the delegations of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) in separate consultative meetings at the ECP Secretariat in the federal capital.

The meetings with both the political parties came in the backdrop of the ECP ruling out elections this year.

On Tuesday, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistic (PBS) provided the required data of digital census 2023 to the polls supervisory body.

The digital census was conducted in March-May this year. The results were published after their approval from the Council of Common Interest (CCI) on August 5, just days before the dissolution of the National Assembly.

Following the approval of the census, the ECP is bound to conduct the upcoming general polls on the basis of the latest census whereas the election supervisor has already announced schedule for revamping the constituencies.

Former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif had dissolved the National Assembly on August 9, three days ahead of its mandated period. The 90-day limit for the ECP to hold elections under the Constitution ends on November 9.

On August 17, the election supervisor had announced that it would revamp all the national and provincial assemblies’ constituencies in light of the digital census on within 120 days.

The ECP cited its decision to push polls beyond November 9 on the basis of the notification of results of the new digital census and Section 17(2) of the Elections Act, which states, “The commission shall delimit constituencies after every census is officially published”.

However, during its meeting with PML-Q on Thursday, the polls supervisory body maintained that it planned to reduce the delimitation timelines as much as possible and immediately issue the schedule for elections.

The meeting was chaired by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja and attended by senior ECP officials. The PML-Q delegation was led by Muhammad Tariq Hussain, Farrukh Khan, Ghulam Mustafa, Hafiz Aqeel Jalil and Rizwan Sadiq.

A statement issued by the election supervisor noted that the CEC vowed to hold the process of delimitation and elections in a transparent and fair manner.

The PML-Q delegation supported the ECP on its decision regarding conducting delimitation. “It would be unfair if the exercise is not conducted,” the statement quoted the political party as saying.

The statement added that the PML-Q also assured the CEC of backing him throughout the electoral process.

Meanwhile, the ECP also held a meeting with the delegation of the TLP which included Chaudhry Rizwan, Muhammad Qasim, Ziaur Rehman and Chaudhry Azhar.

The party while briefing the ECP noted that the government had increased the number of union councils during the Islamabad local government elections from 50 to 101, and later to 125. “It was the malicious intent of the government because of which the elections were not held. Therefore, this power [to increase UCs] should not rest with government,” the party said.

The TLP demanded of the election supervisor that the union councils across the country be empowered to strengthen the local government system and stressed that returning officers should not be appointed from the judiciary as they cannot devote much attention to the election work.

It also lamented that it was not given media coverage as compared to other political parties and urged the ECP to improve election monitoring, remove deceased persons from the voters’ list and increase its staff to expedite the process of delimitation.

The TLP further asked the ECP to hold polls within 90 days and emphasised that the law and order before elections should be improved.

The CEC stated that under Article 140-A, the ECP was bound to conduct elections in accordance with the local government laws of the provinces.

He maintained that the provinces and governments did not want to hold elections, noting that when the ECP completed the arrangements for conducting polls, the rules were changed. “This is what happened during Islamabad [LG polls].”

The CEC assured TLP that work on the stated demands was already under way, adding that the commission had taken help from law enforcement agencies to ensure law and order.