ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party on Tuesday asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to announce the election schedule and ensure the holding of elections within the 90-day period specified by the constitution.
Following a meeting with the electoral watchdog at its secretariat in Islamabad, where the ECP has been having discussions with different parties on the electoral roadmap lately, the party reiterated its demand.
The ECP has declared that no elections would be held this year, and the 90-day window for polls after the dissolution of the National Assembly, mandated in Article 224 of the Constitution, expires on November 9.
The ECP has released the schedule for delimitations that go beyond the 90 days.
The ECP bases its decision to postpone elections until after November 9 on the notification of the new digital 2023 census findings and Section 17(2) of the Elections Act, which states: “The commission shall delimit constituencies after every census is officially published.”
But the PPP said following today’s meeting with the ECP that Article 224 of the Constitution required a deadline for elections once an assembly was dissolved and that it should be followed. It called on ECP to declare a new election date and a timeline for it.
PPP Expects Delimitation to Conclude by December
Talking to the media outside the ECP office, PPP leader Nayyar Bukhari said that a fresh election date and schedule must be published immediately because the country feels uneasy.
Former trade minister Naveed Qamar noted that the PPP had communicated to the ECP its position that the delimitation process would not be “extensive” because the makeup of province seats in the NA had not changed. So, he continued, it might be finished by December.
The ECP promised to consider the situation and maybe issue a fresh delimitation schedule. They said that the election date would be announced shortly after that,” he continued.
