• The first phase of framing constituencies is nearing completion
• One Sindh Assembly seat will be reduced in Khairpur, Thatta and Sanghar.
• One seat will be added in Karachi East and Karachi Central each.

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has expedited the process of forming constituencies of the national and provincial assemblies based on the results of the digital census.

The first phase of framing constituencies of national and provincial assemblies is nearing completion. In Sindh, 61 seats of the National Assembly and 130 seats of the Provincial Assembly have been demarcated.

In the new census, one seat each of the Sindh Assembly will be reduced from Khairpur, Thatta and Sanghar districts based on the population. One seat of the provincial assembly will be added in Karachi East and Karachi Central each.

A provincial assembly seat in Sindh will be based on a population of 428,431 people. A National Assembly seat in Sindh consists of a population of 913,051

The ECP will release the preliminary list of constituencies on September 27. The objections to constituencies can be submitted from September 28 to October 27. The final list of constituencies will be released on November 30.

The ECP instructed the delimitation committees to complete their tasks by September 26, without exception, with the aim of publishing the preliminary constituencies on September 27.

The ECP’s spokesperson said the commission has taken steps to expedite the process for early general elections by adjusting the duration of constituencies.

It was stressed that the committees must complete their tasks by September 26, without any further delays. Initially, the election commission had set the constituency delimitation period until December 14.

Subsequently, a 54-day period will be given for the election program, and after that polls will be held in the last week of January 2024.

The election body had of late conducted back-to-back meetings with officials of different political parties to take into stock their position regarding elections and delimitation, among other things.

Former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif dissolved the National Assembly on August 9, three days ahead of its mandated period.

The 90-day limit for the ECP to hold elections under the Constitution ends on November 9. However, on August 17, the electoral watchdog announced revamping all the national and provincial assemblies’ constituencies within 120 days.

[embedpost slug=”ecp-releases-proposed-amendments-to-election-rules/”]