Pakistan: Delay in polls certain as Election Commission announces fresh delimitation of constituencies

Islamabad [Pakistan], August 17 : The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday announced that it will carry out fresh delimitation of constituencies. The announcement of ECP makes it almost certain that general elections in Pakistan might not be held within the constitutionally stipulated limit of 90 days, Pakistan-based Dawn reported. 

In July, the Council of Common Interests (CCI) gave approval to the results of the 2023 digital census, making it compulsory for Pakistan's electoral watchdog to carry out fresh delimitation. As per the news report, fresh delimitation will take four months. 

The development comes after the dissolution of the National Assembly and the farewell of the Shehbaz Sharif-led coalition government on August 9, according to the Dawn report. 

Under Article 224 of the Constitution, ECP has to hold general elections within 90 days of the dissolution. Section 17(2) of the Elections Act reads, "The commission shall delimit constituencies after every census is officially published."

Earlier, an ECP official said that the requirement of Article 224 and the legal obligation of holding delimitation were being thoroughly analysed by the electoral body, Dawn reported. 

He stated that there would be implications if the elections were held without fresh delimitation. The ECP official, however, had little apprehensions about any implications if the constitutional requirement of conducting polls within 90 days was not met, according to the Dawn report. 

According to the schedule announced by ECP on Thursday, the ECP will complete the delimitation exercise by mid-December. Firstly, the boundaries of administrative units in Pakistan will be frozen by August 17 and delimitation committees for all the provinces and the federal capital will be formed by August 21.

Pakistan's electoral watchdog stated that administrative arrangements for delimitation, including the requisition of maps and other necessary data, description of districts and tehsils from provinces, and obtaining district census reports will be completed between August 22-30.

Delimitation committees will be given training from September 1-4. District quotas for national and provincial assemblies will be given to delimitation committees by September 5-7. Committees will prepare preliminary delimitations of constituencies from September 8 to October 7, Dawn reported. 

Preliminary delimitations will be released on October 9. Following this, people will be able to present their objections and suggestions to the ECP on the initial delimitation from October 10-November 8. Pakistan's electoral watchdog will hear and make decisions regarding objections from November 10 to December 9 and the final list of constituencies will be published on December 14.

Separately, the ECP also gave instructions to "all those in service of Pakistan” to assist it in the process of delimitation under Article 220 of the Constitution so that "elections can be held as enshrined in Article 218(3) of the Constitution," according to Dawn report. 

According to the directives, the limits of revenue units “shall stand frozen from today” and “there shall be no change in the limits of the revenue units” until the process of delimitation is completed.

Earlier this week, Pakistan’s Election Commission issued a set of guidelines after former senator Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar was sworn in as the Pakistan Caretaker prime minister and the country got an interim government till the general elections, Dawn reported.

The guidelines include the interim government in the centre and the provinces to assist the electoral watchdog in holding polls in accordance with the law. This comes when Pakistan’s National Assembly and all four provincial assemblies in Pakistan have been dissolved.

The ECP has also asked the interim governments to comply with all the notifications, directives and provisions of Section 230 of the election law, which pertains to the functions of a caretaker government.

The electoral watchdog also directed the interim government not to post or transfer any public official after the issuance of this notification without the Commission’s prior approval in writing, according to the Dawn report. 

The election body directed all the leaders and the officials holding government residents to vacate their houses and asked interim setup to ensure immediate termination of the services of all heads of the institutions appointed on a political basis.

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