The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has appealed to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for a clear roadmap regarding the forthcoming general elections, emphasizing the importance of transparency in the electoral process.
PPP’s prominent leader, Qamar Zaman Kaira, voiced these concerns during an interview with a private news channel. He underlined the unanimous agreement among political entities to finalize the census and delimitation operations, ensuring a well-organized election.
“It is essential for the ECP to facilitate impartial elections without further delay,” Kaira stated.
Concerns Over New Delimitations
In light of recent uncertainties surrounding the elections, Kaira emphasized the party’s demand for the ECP to declare a concrete timeline and specific date. He believes this will enable them to gear up adequately and erase any prevailing ambiguities.
On a related note, the PPP recently established a legal committee led by the PLF’s president to contest the newly introduced delimitations. This decision came shortly after the ECP unveiled an initial list of the new delimitations in the run-up to the general polls.
Following the chief election commissioner (CEC) and ECP members’ endorsement, the preliminary delimitation list, anchored in the 2023 digital census data, was made public on the commission’s website.
The voter allocations for the National Assembly (NA) have been detailed as follows: Punjab province at 905,595; Sindh with 913,000; Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) at 907,913; Balochistan with 930,900; and Islamabad at 787,954. The quotas are also distinctly mentioned for the provincial assemblies, with the Punjab Assembly leading at 429,929.
Significantly, the ECP has set aside a month-long period from October 28 to November 26 to address any objections raised against these delimitations. Parties and individuals can file their reservations between September 27 and October 26, while hearings will continue until November 25. The final delimitations are scheduled to be released on November 30.
With the conclusion of the delimitation process, the general elections’ 54-day timeline will be set in motion, targeting the first week of January 2024 for polling.