The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday said it cannot hold general elections before May 2023.
This comes after ousted PTI Chairman Imran Khan demanded early elections and vowed to remain on the streets till polls are held, while the incumbent government also remains unsure about its time in office, Geo News reported.
In a statement, the Pakistan election body said it received a letter on April 18 from the Ministry of Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives, stating that the seventh population census would commence on August 1 and its results would be received by December 31 this year.
As a result, the ECP said it would be constitutionally bound to hold elections based on the new census as the 2017 census -- used to conduct polls nowadays -- would become irrelevant, Geo News reported.
According to the Pakistani newspaper, once the ECP receives the new census data, the ECP will start working on delimitation from January 2023, and it will take the body at least four months to issue new lists of the constituencies -- and only then can elections be held.
( With inputs from ANI )
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