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01-15-2018, 08:41 AM
ISLAMABAD: It?s time to grapple with the burning issue of fresh delimitation for timely 2018 elections, but the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is at sixes and sevens over how to break the benchmark of population to create more seats in different districts ? an indication which could land the electoral process in trouble in the coming days.
Senior officials familiar with the latest development said the leaders of some key political parties had approached the ECP to win support for ?breaking the set benchmark? in order to create more seats by annexing the districts of their own choice in all provinces.
?It?s a new dilemma linked to delimitation. Certain political forces, even some officials within the ECP, seem maneuvering to break the set benchmark in order to create seats of their own choice by annexing one specific district with another in provinces,? revealed a senior official of ECP on Sunday.
Three major political parties want to shift some National Assembly seats from urban to rural areas in Sindh and KP and from rural to urban areas in Punjab, added the official.
Around two dozen workers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Pakistan People?s Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and National Party approached the ECP after their strongholds could be taken out from their constituencies and to be included in other seats, said the officials dealing with this matter.
The fresh delimitation exercise is apparently generating heat against the ECP which keeps on deviating from the benchmark of districts in order to create more seats owning to some pressure from certain political quarters, added the officials.
With this burning issue, the ECP is now being approached by prospective candidates from Shikarpur to Lodhran and from Peshawar to Loralai, as the exercise would possibly affect their constituencies, officials said.
Sensing intensity of the issue, the ECP?s top brains are holding an important meeting to address this burning issue today (Monday). Chief ECP Justice (R) Sardar Raza Khan will chair the meeting. Officials fear that the delimitation process may take more time.
Allocation of seats is being done on the basis of 2017 Census held good for the present population figures which is around 220 million with a registered electorate of 97.1 million. Already handling the serious issue of fair representation, many in the ECP forecast that voters of some half a dozen districts of Balochistan and KP under fresh delimitation might not find their representatives in the lower house of Parliament.
After receiving relevant record, data and maps, the top poll body has already started exercise for fresh delimitation and would submit preliminary proposal on ?Form-Five? from today (Monday) till Feb 28.
After this exercise, revealed the officials, there would be publication of draft delimitation for inviting proposal/objections from first week of March to April 7, 2018. Then there would be disposal of proposal/objection by the ECP and after final publication of new constituencies of districts from first week of April to May 3, 2018 ? the deadline set by the ECP, they added.
With the delimitation of constituencies, the exercise of electoral rolls of entire country will be carried out simultaneously. Meanwhile, the ECP would keep engaging Nadra and Pakistan Bureau of Statistics for data processing of new census results, voters list and printing of updated preliminary electoral roles and would provide to their district officers.
ECP officials familiar with the fresh exercise say some politicians want transfer of a few NA seats from urban areas of Karachi and Hyderabad to the rural areas of their neighboring districts in Sindh.
In Punjab, four seats of Faisalabad, Narowal, Okara and Jhang might be shifted to urban areas of Punjab which has to witness a cut of seven NA seats (141 to 148) under fresh arrangements, officials said.
Similarly, officials fear bracing for multiple issues in Balochistan which has less populous districts. It is believed that 15 districts in the province would share seven national seats among themselves. The KP would also face similar complications after many politicians were trying to get four additional seats fixed in districts of their own choice, Peshawar, Swat, Kohat and Dera Ismail Khan in particular.
Spokesperson for ECP Haroon Khan says, ?The ECP under the delimitation Act and Rules is working on districts? shares on the basis of new censuses. ?We see no fear and are on the right track. We know our job and will do it and no force can maneuver the process of delimitation, as 39 well-reputed officers are being assigned this task.
No one can shift seats from one district to other and this only depends on the population of a district. If a district has less population it will have less seats. Not a single voter will be deprived in new delimitation. The delimitation process will be started on Monday (today) by the delimitation committees.?
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Senior officials familiar with the latest development said the leaders of some key political parties had approached the ECP to win support for ?breaking the set benchmark? in order to create more seats by annexing the districts of their own choice in all provinces.
?It?s a new dilemma linked to delimitation. Certain political forces, even some officials within the ECP, seem maneuvering to break the set benchmark in order to create seats of their own choice by annexing one specific district with another in provinces,? revealed a senior official of ECP on Sunday.
Three major political parties want to shift some National Assembly seats from urban to rural areas in Sindh and KP and from rural to urban areas in Punjab, added the official.
Around two dozen workers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Pakistan People?s Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and National Party approached the ECP after their strongholds could be taken out from their constituencies and to be included in other seats, said the officials dealing with this matter.
The fresh delimitation exercise is apparently generating heat against the ECP which keeps on deviating from the benchmark of districts in order to create more seats owning to some pressure from certain political quarters, added the officials.
With this burning issue, the ECP is now being approached by prospective candidates from Shikarpur to Lodhran and from Peshawar to Loralai, as the exercise would possibly affect their constituencies, officials said.
Sensing intensity of the issue, the ECP?s top brains are holding an important meeting to address this burning issue today (Monday). Chief ECP Justice (R) Sardar Raza Khan will chair the meeting. Officials fear that the delimitation process may take more time.
Allocation of seats is being done on the basis of 2017 Census held good for the present population figures which is around 220 million with a registered electorate of 97.1 million. Already handling the serious issue of fair representation, many in the ECP forecast that voters of some half a dozen districts of Balochistan and KP under fresh delimitation might not find their representatives in the lower house of Parliament.
After receiving relevant record, data and maps, the top poll body has already started exercise for fresh delimitation and would submit preliminary proposal on ?Form-Five? from today (Monday) till Feb 28.
After this exercise, revealed the officials, there would be publication of draft delimitation for inviting proposal/objections from first week of March to April 7, 2018. Then there would be disposal of proposal/objection by the ECP and after final publication of new constituencies of districts from first week of April to May 3, 2018 ? the deadline set by the ECP, they added.
With the delimitation of constituencies, the exercise of electoral rolls of entire country will be carried out simultaneously. Meanwhile, the ECP would keep engaging Nadra and Pakistan Bureau of Statistics for data processing of new census results, voters list and printing of updated preliminary electoral roles and would provide to their district officers.
ECP officials familiar with the fresh exercise say some politicians want transfer of a few NA seats from urban areas of Karachi and Hyderabad to the rural areas of their neighboring districts in Sindh.
In Punjab, four seats of Faisalabad, Narowal, Okara and Jhang might be shifted to urban areas of Punjab which has to witness a cut of seven NA seats (141 to 148) under fresh arrangements, officials said.
Similarly, officials fear bracing for multiple issues in Balochistan which has less populous districts. It is believed that 15 districts in the province would share seven national seats among themselves. The KP would also face similar complications after many politicians were trying to get four additional seats fixed in districts of their own choice, Peshawar, Swat, Kohat and Dera Ismail Khan in particular.
Spokesperson for ECP Haroon Khan says, ?The ECP under the delimitation Act and Rules is working on districts? shares on the basis of new censuses. ?We see no fear and are on the right track. We know our job and will do it and no force can maneuver the process of delimitation, as 39 well-reputed officers are being assigned this task.
No one can shift seats from one district to other and this only depends on the population of a district. If a district has less population it will have less seats. Not a single voter will be deprived in new delimitation. The delimitation process will be started on Monday (today) by the delimitation committees.?
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