Govt, opposition raise objections to delimitation

ISLAMABAD: Both the government and the opposition on Tuesday voiced their objections over the initial delimitation issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The ECP on March 5 issued the initial delimitation of national and provincial assemblies on the basis of the population census carried out late last year.

A special parliamentary committee, headed by Deputy Speaker National Assembly Murtaza Javed and formed to mull over the issue, rejected the initial draft and said delimitation should be according to voter lists.

ECP issues initial delimitation for national, provincial assemblies

Peshawar is no longer NA-1, and the number has been allocated to Chitral

Delimitation in various constituencies have not been done in a clockwise fashion starting from the north, the committee said.

PML-N’s Daniyal Aziz termed the delimitation pre-poll rigging and said it is violative of election rules. We will try to gather all information and objections regarding the initial draft by March 25, he added.

PTI’s Arif Alvi said the issue of delimitation without taking into account the constituency’s population could be challenged in court, which would delay the general elections.

Moreover, PPP’s Nafisa Shah said that authorities seemingly have no clue about ground realities and have made the draft after merely consulting maps.

ECP secretary in his briefing to the committee said delimitation was done according to law. He admitted that there could be errors and assured the lawmakers that they will be done away with.

Final delimitation will be done by May 5 and elections will be held on time, the ECP official added.

The committee also formed a working committee which will overview the objections and submit a report within three days.