The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has successfully completed the task of delimiting national and provincial assembly constituencies, marking a significant milestone in the country's electoral process. According to a recent report ECP is set to unveil the preliminary list of these newly delimited constituencies today, well ahead of the initially scheduled release date of October 10.
Under the digital census initiative, the preliminary lists of the freshly delimited constituencies were originally intended to be made public on October 10, but the Election Commission of Pakistan has impressively concluded its work a full 15 days earlier than anticipated. This proactive approach bodes well for the forthcoming electoral process.
Once the details of these new constituencies are disclosed, the public will have the opportunity to raise objections to them until October 26, with hearings on these objections scheduled to take place until November 25. Subsequently, the final list of constituencies will be officially announced on November 30, paving the way for a comprehensive 54-day election schedule to be outlined. As a result, general elections are poised to transpire during the last week of January 2024, a crucial event for the nation.
The nationwide delimitation effort extends to various assemblies, with 266 seats in the National Assembly, 297 in the Punjab Assembly, 130 in the Sindh Assembly, 51 in the Balochistan Assembly, and 115 in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly being subject to this process. Moreover, authoritative sources indicate that specific seat quotas have been established for each constituency, including 905,595 for Punjab in the National Assembly, 913,000 for Sindh, 907,913 for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 930,900 for Balochistan, and 787,954 for Islamabad.
Furthermore, in the case of the Punjab Assembly, a constituency is expected to encompass approximately 429,929 individuals, while the corresponding figures for Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan Assembly constituencies stand at 428,431, 355,270, and 292,047, respectively. This meticulous delimitation process ensures fair representation and accuracy in electoral constituencies across Pakistan.