Pakistan People’s Party demands exact schedule for general elections from Election Commission

Islamabad [Pakistan], September 29 (ANI): Pakistan People’s Party on Thursday demanded an exact schedule from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for holding general elections in a transparent manner, reported ARY News. 

Last week, the Election Commission of Pakistan announced that the elections will take place next year in the last week of January, according to Dawn.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Qamar Zaman Kaira said that there has been a consensus among the political parties to complete the census and delimitation process so that the next elections could be held in a fair manner, reported ARY News. 

“We have asked ECP to organize free and fair elections without delay,” he said.

He further said that his party is insisting that the election commission announce a time frame and exact date so that it can participate in the elections fully prepared and without ambiguity. 

Moreover, yesterday, the PPP formed a legal team, headed by the president of the People’s Lawyers Forum (PLF) to challenge the new delimitations.  

The ECP on Wednesday released the provisional report on the delimitation of constituencies based on the recently concluded census, Dawn reported.

Under the original delimitation schedule issued by the ECP on August 17 — ten days after the notification of census results — the initial delimitation exercise was to be completed on October 7 and preliminary proposals for delimitation along with the report were to be published on October 9.

Moreover, the election commission will address the objections from October 28 to November 26, reported ARY News. 

The objections could be filed against the delimitation from September 27 to October 26.  

The commission will hear the pleas against the delimitations till November 25 and will unveil the final delimitations on November 30, reported ARY News. 

Following the publication of the final delimitations, a 54-day election schedule will be announced and general polls will be held in the first week of January next year.