ECP cannot intervene in Parliament’s internal proceedings, says Rabbani

KARACHI: PPP leader Raza Rabbani on Monday stressed that the ECP could not intervene in the Parliament's proceedings.

The government and opposition, a day earlier, had voiced their objections over the initial delimitation issued by the ECP. On March 5, the body had issued the initial delimitation of national and provincial assemblies on the basis of the population census carried out late last year.

"There is no question of transgressing into the domain of the Election Commission of Pakistan," the former Senate chairman said. "But the ECP must have read the terms of reference."

"I believe that all institutions working in the country should remain within their constitutional limits and not meddle with one another’s constitutional jurisdiction."   

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

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

PML-N’s Daniyal Aziz had earlier 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 had said the issue of delimitation without taking into account the constituency’s population could be challenged in court, which would delay the general elections.

The ECP secretary, in his briefing to the committee, had said that the delimitation was done according to law. He had 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.