The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced timeframe for highly anticipated upcoming elections in the country before giving any specific date.
Last week of January 2024 is a time announced by the ECP today which is not aligned with the Nov 6 cut-off date suggested by President Arif Alvi by more than two months.
In a recent statement, the ECP announced that it had reviewed the work related to delimiting constituencies and had set key dates for the electoral process.
According to the ECP’s statement, the initial list for the delimitation of constituencies will be made public on September 27. After considering objections and suggestions from various stakeholders, the final list will be issued on November 30. Subsequently, the ECP plans to conduct polls in the last week of January following a 54-day election campaign program.
This announcement comes after the ECP had previously ruled out holding elections in the current year, citing the necessity for a fresh delimitation of constituencies following the 2023 digital census.
Article 224 of the Constitution mandates that 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 requires constituency delimitation to take place after each officially published census.
Meanwhile, the ECP has reached out to the chief secretaries of the four provinces and the chief commissioner of Islamabad, invoking Article 220 of the Constitution, which mandates that executive authorities must assist the ECP in performing its functions.
The letter directed chief secretaries to instruct deputy commissioners to provide administrative and logistical support, ensure secure storage for election materials, and facilitate various election-related activities at the district level.
