ECP meets to deliberate on delimitation of constituencies

ISLAMABAD: After passage of crucial delimitation bill from both houses of the parliament, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is holding a meeting in Islamabad today (Friday) to discuss various aspects and requirements of delimitation of the constituencies.

All the Provincial Election Commissioners, Chief Secretaries, Secretary Pakistan Board of Statistics and Chairman NADRA will attend the meeting.

Earlier this week, the Senate approved the constitution (amendment) bill, 2017 pertaining to delimitation of the constituencies on the basis of provisional census results ahead of General Elections 2018.

The bill was passed with 84 votes in favour of the motion and one against.

The Senate was unable to vote on the bill for three times in November owing to lack of quorum until the PML-N led government had to hold talks with opposition parties to pass the constitution amendment bill.

Under the terms of the amendment, the total number of National Assembly seats will remain unchanged with adjustments in seats allocation for the provinces in accordance with the census 2017 results.

Punjab will lose out on seats as its in Pakistan’s population has fallen to 52 percent in 2017 from 56pc in 1998.

On the other hand, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will gain the seats lost by Punjab, while Sindh’s share will remain the same.