ECP begins compiling final list of constituencies

Announcement of final constituencies will be made on 30th

ISLAMABAD:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has taken more steps to ensure the general elections are held on the given date of Feb 8, 2024, almost finalising the delimitation of constituencies and appointing key staff at the regional level, officials and sources in the polls oversight body said.

The ECP on Sunday concluded the process of deciding the objections raised on the changes to the revamped constituencies. The polls supervisor had announced in September that it would issue the final list of constituencies on Nov 30.

According to the sources, the list of the constituencies in light of the fresh delimitation based on the 7th Population and Housing Census 2023 had been compiled ahead of their official announcement.

Based on these constituencies, the ECP would announce the election schedule, including the dates of filing of nomination papers, process of filing challenges to the papers, and their disposal by the relevant returning officers and tribunals etc. The voting would be held on Feb 8 next year.

Any fresh delimitation after the census is a legal requirement in Pakistan. After the digital census between March 1 and May 30 and its notification in August, the ECP stated its inability to conduct general elections within the mandated 90-day period.

In the wake of the digital census, the strength of the National Assembly was decreased by six seats to 336 as the ECP reduced the representation of the newly merged districts in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) from 12 to six.

In 2018, the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) was merged with K-P under the 25th Constitutional Amendment and initially 12 National Assembly seats were allocated to those districts for one time, which had now been reduced to six.

Hence, K-P’s strength in the National Assembly comes down to 45 from 51 in 2018. However, Punjab retained its 141 National Assembly seats; Sindh 51, Balochistan 16 and Islamabad three.

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Similarly, the provincial assemblies would comprise: Punjab 297 seats; Sindh 130; K-P 115 and Balochistan 51.

The ECP while announcing the preliminary delimitation had invited any objections to the revamped constituencies until Oct 26. The ECP had said that it would decide on those objections from Oct 28 to Nov 26. It added that final lists would be released on Nov 30.

Meanwhile, the ECP appointed 32 Regional Election Commissioners (RECs) as Regional Monitoring Coordinators (RMCs) to ensure effective monitoring of the 2024 general elections, the ECP spokesperson said.

The appointed RMCs will play a crucial role in guaranteeing comprehensive monitoring at the division level. They are also responsible for guiding and supervising the monitoring teams within their respective districts during the upcoming general elections.

The ECP will establish four-tier monitoring control rooms, with provincial, divisional, and district monitoring control rooms operating under the supervision of the Central Monitoring Control Centre in Islamabad, the spokesperson said.

The ECP conducted a daylong online training workshop for the RMCs. The training workshop covered the ECP’s monitoring framework and the creation of monitoring rooms at provincial, divisional, and district levels.

Following this training, the RMCs will be responsible for training district monitoring officers and monitoring teams in their respective divisions.

The RMCs had already undergone a two-day training session at the ECP Secretariat in Islamabad two months ago. (WITH INPUT FROM APP)