PTI has decided to challenge the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) delimitation process. Former Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry revealed the news.
Earlier, the new PML-N government formally took over after ousting former prime minister Imran Khan. Amid the whole no-confidence motion controversy, there was the call for early elections.
However, without waiting for a digital census, the ECP on Friday decided to immediately go for delimitation of national and provincial assemblies as per the 2017 national census.
Taking to Twitter, Fawad Chaudhry said new delimitations are possible only if there is a new census. Furthermore, he accused the ECP of making the election process controversial.
Read more: ECP to hold general elections in October 2022?
“The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has decided to challenge the re-delimitation of the Election Commission across the country. New delimitations are possible only if there is a new census. The Election Commission is on a mission to make the election process controversial,” Fawad Chaudhry tweeted.
تحریک انصاف نےالیکشن کمیشن کے ملک بھر میں دوبارہ حلقہ بندیوں کے اقدام کو چیلنج کرنےکا فیصلہ کیا ہے،نئ حلقہ بندیاں صرف اس صورت میں ممکن ہوتی ہیں جب نئ مردم شماری ہو،مردم شماری کے بغیر حلقہ بندیاں آئین کی سنگین خلاف ورزی ہو گی۔ الیکشن کمیشن انتخابی عمل کو متنازعہ بنانے کے مشن پر ہے
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) April 14, 2022
Elections possible within 4 months: ECP
After advising President Dr. Arif Alvi to dissolve the assemblies, the former PTI government demanded early elections. In this regard, the President wrote to the ECP to propose dates for the early general elections. ECP responded that it needs at least four additional months for the preparation of free and fair elections.
Important to note, in pursuance of clause (5)(a) of Article 48 and clause (2) of Article 224 of the Constitution, the president shall appoint a date, not later than 90 days from the date of dissolution of the National Assembly. However, ECP said it would require at least four additional months to complete the process of delimitation.
Furthermore, ECP had also blamed the previous government for not cooperating and delaying the finalisation and publication of fresh digital census results, which subsequently led to a delay in delimitation.
Read more: Can hold elections in the next four months: ECP
Additionally, shortly after a meeting presided over by the Chief of ECP, it was announced that the process of identifying constituencies had been initiated. It was revealed that the constituencies would be determined as per facts and figures of the 2017 census. The ECP also ordered the provincial governments to provide all relevant data before the commission.