K-P reviews polls readiness

Orders issued for water, washrooms, CCTV at polling stations

PESHAWAR:

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhary reviewed preparations for General Elections 2024 in a high-level meeting held here on Friday.

The meeting was attended by additional chief secretary (ACS) home, ACS, secretary local government department, finance department, police, and Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) officials. ACS home gave a detailed briefing to the forum about the steps taken by the provincial government regarding preparations for the upcoming general elections.

Chief Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry said that holding transparent, free, and fair elections is the first priority of the provincial government and directed commissioners and deputy commissioners to establish special contact with district election commissioners and finalize the arrangements as soon as possible.

He directed authorities to ensure the provision of drinking water, washrooms, ramps for disabled persons, and the installation of CCTV cameras in the polling stations as per the instructions of the ECP. He ordered the availability of polling staff and security arrangements for the elections.

Background

On December 1, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) finalized the list of constituencies following a fresh delimitation based on the 7th Population and Housing Census 2023. Notably, the general seats in the National Assembly have been reduced from 272 to 266.

The revised figures dictate that the critical threshold for securing the position of the new prime minister/leader of the house in the National Assembly is now 169, down from the previous requirement of 172. The ECP, utilizing the new digital census, has cut the representation of the newly merged districts in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) from 12 to six.

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In 2018, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas were merged with K-P under the 25th Constitutional Amendment. Initially, 12 National Assembly seats were allocated to these districts as a one-time measure, a number now reduced to six. Consequently, K-P’s strength in the National Assembly has decreased from 51 to 45.

However, other provinces maintain their representation: Punjab retains 141 National Assembly seats, Sindh 51, Balochistan 16, and Islamabad three. The general elections, initially scheduled for November 7, were postponed due to concerns raised by various political parties, particularly in Karachi, over the results of the digital census conducted from March 1 to May.

Controversy surrounded the apparent 15% drop in Karachi’s population, despite the city’s overall count being only 1% less than the 2017 census, standing at 15.85 million. The ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and other political entities contested the headcount. In response to objections, the digital census was re-conducted in September, leading to the release of final results.

The ECP clarified that the number of general seats in the Punjab Assembly remains at 297, Sindh Assembly at 130, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly at 115, and Balochistan at 51. However, the representation of Khairpur, Sanghar, and Thatta districts in the Sindh Assembly has been reduced by one seat each.

Specifically, Khairpur’s seats decreased from seven to six, Sanghar’s from six to five, and Thatta’s from three to two. Meanwhile, one seat each was added to Malir, Karachi East, and Karachi Central.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2023.