ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan on Wednesday could not reach a decision on the general elections date and a timeline for carrying out delimitation of the constituencies of the National Assembly and the four provincial legislatures.
According to a senior ECP official, the deliberations would continue Thursday (today) as well to take two key decisions, having both constitutional and legal intricacies and implications. “Being a constitutional body, the Commission has to move forward very carefully, irrespective of the speculations and views on any particular matter. Carrying out delimitations is an elaborate, crucially important nationwide exercise. All legal, constitutional aspects are being deliberated upon,” he explained. The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics handed over all the digital census results to the electoral body a day earlier (Tuesday) and in its wake speculations were rife that in its keenly-awaited meeting on Wednesday, the Commission would come up with a date on general elections and the timeline to delimit constituencies afresh.
The Council of Common Interests (CCI) approved the 2023 digital census results on August 5, followed by an official notification of the results two days later, signifying the possibility of a delay in the general elections by five-six months at least. Article 224 of the Constitution says, “When the National Assembly or a Provincial Assembly is dissolved, a general election to the Assembly shall be held within a period of ninety days after the dissolution…”.
The National Assembly was dissolved on August 10 and afterwards, two provincial assemblies of Sindh and Balochistan were also dissolved. Likewise, following every census, constituencies of the National Assembly and provincial assemblies have to be delimited, and this exercise requires four months at least. While the Senate passed a resolution, urging for the holding of the general elections within 90 days, some ministers of the then PDM government hinted at the possibility of delay in the holding of elections.
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