ECP reduces six KP seats in new delimitations

PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has reduced six assembly seats in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province in new delimitations, ARY News reported on Thursday.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) decided to launch a legal battle against the ECP over new delimitations which reduced six assembly seats in KP.

The JUI-F spokesperson said in a statement that the election commission promoted the sense of deprivation in KP. The JUI-F decided to form a provincial-level legal team to challenge the new delimitations.

The religio-political party announced to start legal battle to restore the KP’s assembly seats. The spokesperson blamed the ECP for creating an uncertain situation in the country.

Related: New delimitations: Karachi’s NA, PA seats increased

While expressing reservations, the JUI-F spokesperson said that instead of increasing the assembly seats on the basis of population, the number of constituencies has decreased despite the new digital census.

It added that JUI-F insisted on the organisation of general elections despite having reservations on the 2023 census data but the ECP created an uncertain situation in the country.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued preliminary list of new delimitations on Wednesday ahead of general polls.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) also expressed reservations over the new delimitations and formed a legal team to challenge the new delimitations.

Related: General elections: ECP orders chief secretaries to start preparations

Yesterday, the chief election commissioner (CEC) and ECP members approved the preliminary list of new delimitations under the 2023 digital census data.

After CEC’s approval, the commission issued the initial list of the delimitations on its website.

For the National Assembly (NA), the voter quota for Punjab province was fixed at 905,595, 913,000 for Sindh, 907,913 for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 930,900 for Balochistan and 787,954 for Islamabad.

The voter quota for the Punjab Assembly will be 429,929, 428,431 for the Sindh Assembly, 355,270 for the KP Assembly and 292,047 for the Balochistan Assembly.

The election commission will address the objections from October 28 to November 26, whereas, the objections could be filed against the delimitations from September 27 to October 26.

The hearing on the pleas against the delimitations will be conducted till November 25. The ECP will unveil the final delimitations on November 30.

After 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 2024.