ISLAMABAD: The 2018 general elections schedule has been tentativelyrevealed by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Elections will be held between July 25 and July 31, a private TV channelreported on Saturday, quoting officials from the Election Commission ofPakistan (ECP), with the final list of candidates to be released 28 daysprior to the polling day.

The candidates will thus get 28 days to run their campaigns instead of 21.The printing of ballot papers will also commence 28 days before the countrygoes to the polls.

The ECP officials said that the upcoming polls, per the constitution, mustbe held by July 31 under any circumstances. A final schedule is set to bereleased 60 days in advance, which should fall somewhere in the final weekof May.

The commission, for the first time in Pakistan’s electoral history, willrelease a 55-day election schedule as opposed to the 48-day schedule thatwas the norm until now.

According to the ECP’s statistics, the number of registered voters inPakistan, following the review of voter lists, has reached 104,267,581 – ofwhich 58,463,228 are men and 45,804,353 women. The numbers indicate awidening gap in the ratio of male and female voters in the country.

ECP officials recalled that a deadline of April 30 was set for theregistration, change, transfers, entry and exit of voters and thecommission is now working on formulating electoral lists.