ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) assured the Awami National Party (ANP) on Wednesday that general elections would take place by mid-February at all costs, and possibly by late January if the delimitation of constituencies was finished earlier. This assuaged concerns that elections might be postponed indefinitely to lengthen the tenure of the interim government.
The assurance was given during a consultative meeting between the ECP and an ANP delegation to discuss a roadmap for the coming elections.
Senior ECP officials and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja both spoke at the meeting. The ANP delegation was led by Mian Iftikhar Hussain, secretary general, and included party leaders Khushdil Khan Advocate and Abdul Rahim Wazir Advocate as well as central spokesperson Zahid Khan.
Elections may even be held earlier, most likely by the end of January, if the delimitation exercise is completed earlier, the Election Commission officials assured ANP leaders, promising to shorten the delimitation timeline as much as possible.
https://twitter.com/ECP_Pakistan/status/1696928728126038402
ANP leaders say watchdog has pledged to speed up delimitation exercise to hold elections even sooner
They insisted that the ECP would withstand all pressure and that the elections would never, under any circumstances, go past mid-February.
According to the Election Commission, the delimitation process should be finished in 120 days (by December 14) under the previously disclosed schedule. It was also conceivable that the ECP would shorten the delimitation period and, in the coming days, announce both the election schedule and the revised delimitation schedule.
After the ANP insisted on a date and schedule for elections, even though it was not possible to hold elections within 90 days of the dissolution of the National Assembly, the ECP provided its assurance. To put an end to the uncertainty surrounding the upcoming elections, the PPP had made a similar demand the day before.
The ANP delegation did point out that before announcing the delimitation schedule, the ECP ought to have consulted with political parties.
Mian Iftikhar Hussain later told reporters that the Election Commission had promised the party that the redrawing of constituencies would be expedited so that general elections would not take place after mid-February.
Mr Hussain said that during the meeting with the ECP, his party highlighted that holding elections within 90 days after the assembly’s dissolution was a constitutional requirement.
He said the assembly’s dissolution three days before the expiry of its term and the last-minute approval of census results by the Council of Common Interests (CCI) created doubts about the fate of polls.
The ECP has highlighted that once the census results were approved by the CCI and officially notified, the commission was bound by the law to redraw constituencies as per the new census.
A level playing field for all political parties was another point made by Mr. Hussain. In response to a query, he stated that the establishment had independently decided to remain impartial and refrain from meddling in politics.
“They have stated as much, and as such a significant institution, I am confident that they would provide proof. If we want to advance politics and the nation, we must have faith, he said.
The central spokesman for the ANP, Zahid Khan, claimed that the Election Commission was also made aware of the party’s concerns regarding the most recent census, which even, in his opinion, indicated a decline in Peshawar’s population.
Meanwhile, ECP officials also had consultative sessions with the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Balochistan National Party (BNP) on Wednesday.
The BAP delegation supported the ECP’s decision to go for fresh delimitation, noting that it would be an injustice to political parties, candidates and the public if constituencies weren’t withdrawn after the census approval.
The party requested that free and fair elections be held after an open and transparent delimitation. It also served as a reminder to the ECP to consider the local weather conditions before announcing the election schedule to avoid upsetting candidates or voters.
Agha Hasan Baloch of the BNP complained that the population of Balochistan had been undercounted in the most recent census and thought the new delimitation that would follow a “flawed census” would be meaningless.
SOURCE: DAWN NEWS
