PPP, PTI reject ECP's decision to hold fresh delimitations
Pakistan
New delimitation of constituencies across country will be notified in December this year
LAHORE (Web Desk) – Major political parties including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan People Party (PPP) Tuesday rejected the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to hold fresh delimitations.
Following the ECP’s decision to undertake new demarcation, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rejected the idea and announced it would challenge the Council of Common Interest’s (CCI) decision to notify the new census in the Supreme Court.
The party spokesperson alleged that the schedule for the delimitation issued by the ECP was “malicious and a clear deviation from the Constitution”.
The party added that if the National Assembly (NA) was dissolved before the completion of its tenure the Constitution clearly states that the ECP is bound to hold polls within 90 days.
In light of the decision of the CCI, the formation of new constituencies cannot be used as a justification to escape election, the former ruling party further said, adding, a “major irregularity” was committed in the CCI meeting when “illegal caretaker chief ministers of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa” attended the meeting.
PTI also alleged that due to the PTI’s rising popularity, people were deprived of the right to vote. As per the schedule, the new delimitation of the constituencies across the country will be notified in December this year.
The ECP schedule showed that fresh delimitation will take nearly four months, meaning the general elections in the country cannot be held within 90 days of the dissolution of the provincial and national assemblies.
Timely election dream goes sour as ECP greenlights new delimitations
Earlier, this month. the CCI meeting chaired by then prime minister Shehbaz Sharif approved the final results of the 7th Population and Housing Census 2023 reporting the country’s population at 241.49 million with a growth rate of 2.55%.
The CCI approval made it constitutionally mandatory for the for the ECP to hold elections following fresh delimitations in the light of the results of the 7th census.
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Thursday opposed the decision, saying drawing new boundaries of constituencies is not a “constitutional requirement”.
The electoral authority has announced that new delimitations will be carried out across the country on the basis of a new census approved by the Council of Common Interest (CCI) meeting last month, meaning the general elections in the country will be delayed beyond its 90 days’ constitutional requirement.
The ECP schedule showed that fresh delimitation will take nearly four months, to be held from September 8 to October 7, as per the electoral body’s schedule.
Reacting to the ECP’s announcement, PPP spokesperson Faisal Karim Kundi said the party has been demanding elections to be held as per the Constitution.
There is no constitutional requirement to do delimitations but there is a constitutional requirement to hold elections within 90 days, he adding, the PPP was a key ally of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led government in the Centre, which “unanimously” approved the new census earlier this month, requiring the ECP to carry out fresh delimitations before holding polls.
A day earlier, a petition was also filed in the Supreme Court for holding seeking its orders for the ECP to announce a date for polls to the national and provincial assemblies as per Article 224(2) of the Constitution.
In its petition, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) top lawyers’ body pleaded with the top court to suspend the August 5 decision of the CCI.
