In Islamabad today, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is set tounveil the election schedule after convening an ’emergency meeting’following consultations with various stakeholders and is expected toannounce the schedule on Friday (Today).
Lately, the ECP has engaged in consecutive discussions with representativesfrom different political parties to gauge their stance on matters likeelections and delimitation. In this significant gathering, presided over byChief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja in Islamabad, the ECP isexpected to explore ways to expedite the delimitation process.
A day earlier, the commission pledged to fast-track constituencydelimitation and subsequently announce a schedule for the upcoming generalelections, allaying concerns of potential delays that could extend theinterim government’s rule. The ECP reassured delegations from the PakistanPeoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), andTehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) during separate consultations at the ECPSecretariat in the federal capital.
These discussions with political parties occurred in light of the ECP’sprevious announcement ruling out elections for the current year. Earlierthis week, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) supplied the necessarydata from the 2023 digital census to the election supervisory body. Thedigital census took place from March to May this year, and the results wereofficially released after approval from the Council of Common Interest(CCI) on August 5, shortly before the dissolution of the National Assembly.Following this approval, the ECP is obligated to conduct the upcominggeneral elections based on the latest census data, and the electionsupervisor has already outlined a schedule for constituency realignment.
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Former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif dissolved the National Assembly onAugust 9, three days prior to the constitutionally mandated deadline. TheConstitution stipulates a 90-day limit for the ECP to organize elections,which expires on November 9. On August 17, the election supervisorannounced its intention to revise all national and provincial assemblyconstituencies in line with the digital census within 120 days. Meanwhile,the Supreme Court’s dismissal of the ECP’s review petition regarding theMay 14 polls for the Punjab Assembly has placed pressure on the electoralbody to either hold general elections within 90 days or seek the court’sguidance on the issue of conducting new delimitation based on the 7thPopulation Census.