The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has provided assurance to the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and the Mutahidda Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) that it will expedite the delimitation process for national and provincial assembly constituencies. The ECP aims to conduct elections promptly after the completion of the exercise.
Earlier this month, the ECP announced that elections would not take place this year following the notification of the latest 2023 digital census. According to Article 224 of the Constitution, elections must be held within 90 days of the dissolution of the National Assembly, which occurred three days before the end of its constitutional term. However, Section 17(2) of the Elections Act states that constituency delimitation should take place after each census is officially published.
As part of complying with this requirement, the ECP stated last week that the delimitation process is expected to be completed by December 14, which is more than a month beyond the constitutionally mandated deadline for general elections.
This development prompted President Dr Arif Alvi to invite Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja for a meeting to determine an appropriate date for the elections. In response, the CEC expressed that participating in such a meeting would be of limited significance due to changes in the election law.
Currently, the ECP is engaging in consultations with various political parties to devise an effective election plan. In addition to the JI and MQM-P, delegations from PTI, PML-N, and JUI-F have also participated in this ongoing process.
Today’s meetings with the JI and MQM-P were chaired by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja.
In a press release issued later in the evening, the ECP stated that the JI delegation, headed by Ameerul Azeem, believed that the consultation process should have commenced earlier. Azeem emphasized the need to avoid the dissolution of both the national and provincial assemblies.
Furthermore, the JI delegation proposed the implementation of spending limits for political parties in relation to their campaign expenses. CEC Raja assured that the ECP would transmit the valuable recommendations provided by political parties to the parliament in order to ensure their translation into legislation.
The CEC highlighted his commitment to robust election monitoring, including the establishment of an advanced monitoring room to facilitate this purpose.
Separately, the MQM-P delegation, led by Dr Farooq Sattar, expressed support for the ECP’s decision to conduct new delimitations based on the new census and drew attention to the significant increase in Karachi’s population.
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