Pakistan: Electoral body says delimitation process to be completed by Dec 14

ISLAMABAD [Pakistan]: Pakistan's election commission has said it will finish the delimitation process by December 14 to ensure that the next presidential election takes place on time, Geo News reported.

Earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) held several meetings with various political parties and delegations from the Awami National Party (ANP), Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Balochistan National Party (BNP), read the official statement issued by the country's poll watchdog.

During the meeting, which was presided over by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, the ANP delegation, led by Mian Iftikhar Hussain and Zahid Khan, communicated their demand for elections to be held within 90 days as per the constitution. A similar demand was put forward by the BAP delegation as well.

The chief election commissioner reassured the ANP representatives that the watchdog would try to further reduce the time required for the delimitation process, according to Geo News.

The ECP had earlier held meetings with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F). Earlier, the PPP reiterated its demand that the general elections take place within the 90-day window as specified by the country's constitution, reported ARY News.

PPP leader Nayyar Bukhari told reporters that Article 224 of the Constitution, which established a deadline for elections after the dissolution of an assembly, should be followed. “The stance we adopted today is that the PPP wants the ECP to announce a new election date and the schedule for it,” Bukhari said. He said that it is very “important to announce the election date and schedule,” reported ARY News.