General elections not possible in 3 months, says Pakistan poll body

Pakistan's Election Commission has said that it won't be able to conduct general elections in the country within three months due to various legal and procedural challenges, local media reported.

Quoting a senior official of the country's poll body, Dawn newspaper reported that preparations for the general elections would require at least six months.

Among the major challenges the official cited for the poll commission's inability to hold elections include fresh delimitation of constituencies, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where the number of seats had been increased under the 26th Amendment, and bringing district- and constituency-wise electoral rolls in conformity, Dawn said.

"Delimitation is a time-consuming exercise where the law provides for one month's time just to invite objections," the official was quoted as saying adding that another one month was required to address the same. The official pointed out that a minimum of three months would be required to complete the exercise, followed by another gigantic task of updating voters' lists.

On Sunday, Pakistani President Arif Alvi dissolved the Pakistani parliament following Prim Minister Imran Khan's advice.

Imran Khan made the proposal minutes after parliament's Deputy Speaker rejected a motion of no confidence in him as "unconstitutional."

Pakistan media and opposition parties criticised this decision saying that it violated all rules governing proceedings in the House.

According to the ECP official, procurement of election material, arrangement for ballot papers and appointment and training of polling staff were also among the challenges. He said that under the law, ballot papers with watermark were to be used which were not available in the country and would have to be imported.

He revealed that the ECP had proposed to amend the law to provide for ballot papers with "security features," instead of "watermark".

Meanwhile, Imran Khan will continue as the Prime Minister until the caretaker Prime Minister is appointed, said the President as the SC is looking into the matter of National Assembly dissolution.

( With inputs from ANI )

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