Election Commission issues final list of constituencies
Final constituencies include 266 National Assembly seats
ECP likely to release general elections schedule towards December-end,
The ECP issued the final list of constituencies based on the 7th Population and Housing Digital Census 2023 data ahead of the upcoming general elections in the country.
According to a notification issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan, the number of general seats has fallen from 272 to 266.
Punjab will have 141 general seats in the NA, Sindh 61, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 45, Balochistan 16 and three will be from Islamabad. Women will have 60 reserved seats while minorities will have 10 seats.
The 12 seats allocated to FATA were abolished and six seats were allocated to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the basis of population. Therefore, the number of seats in the National Assembly was reduced to 266 from 272.
As for provincial assemblies, the commission said Punjab would have 371 seats of which 297 will be general seats. Sindh would have 168 seats of which 130 will be general seats.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly will have 145 seats of which 115 will be general seats. The Balochistan Assembly will have 65 seats of which 51 will be general seats.
In addition to the number of seats referred to above, there are 10 seats reserved for non-Muslims in the National Assembly. This makes the total number of seats 336.
Elections in Pakistan are scheduled to be held on February 8, 2023, as political parties woo voters. The caretaker setup has assured the ECP of providing support in organising elections.
But the PTI has expressed concerns over the treatment “meted out” to its leadership and workers since the violent protests that broke out on May 9 when party chairman Imran Khan was first arrested.
On Thursday, PTI Chairman Khan wrote a letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa and sought the protection of the party’s fundamental rights.During the prescribed period from September 09, 2023 to October 27, 2023 (1,327) representation were filed by the voters of the respective constituencies as per the following details:
Meanwhile,
ECP indicated on Friday that it will release the schedule for the next general elections 54 days prior to the election day on February 8 next year.
Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, in response to a media query about the release of the election schedule, stated that one should count 54 days backward from February 8.
The CEC’s indication points to the third week of December 2023.
During an informal interaction with a group of reporters in Islamabad, CEC Raja further said that the updated constituency lists had been issued, and all other election prerequisites were in progress.
He added that the timely announcement of the election schedule, as well as the appointment of returning officers (ROs) and district returning officers (DROs), would be guaranteed at an appropriate time.
Despite concerns within political circles about potential delays, the ECP dispelled doubts by releasing the final list of the delimitation of constituencies for national and provincial assemblies, rejecting reports of any postponement.
