Elections to be held in last week of January, says ECP

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday announced that general elections would be held in the last week of January 2024, ARY News reported.

In a statement, the ECP said that it reviewed work on delimiting constituencies and decided that the initial list for the delimitation of constituencies would be published on September 27.

“The final delimitation list will be published on November 30,” said ECP, adding that general elections will be held in the last week of January 2024 following the 54-day election schedule.

The electoral body was under immense pressure from the political parties regarding the announcement of the election date.

The announcement comes a day after the ECP said it had scheduled a meeting with political parties next month to discuss the code of conduct for general elections.

The ECP spokesperson mentioned Wednesday that a draft of the code of conduct has been provided to political party leaders in advance, allowing them to provide feedback more effectively during the consultation.

Earlier, President Arif Alvi had also written a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, stating that polls should be held by November 6.

In a letter addressed to Chief Election Commissioner, President Arif Alvi noted that the National Assembly was dissolved on Prime Minister’s advice on August 9, 2023 and the Constitution of Pakistan empowers the president to announce a date for general election “not later than ninety days from the date of the dissolution (of assembly)” so election should be held by the eighty-ninth day of the date of dissolution of Assembly i.e. Monday, November 06, 2023.

It is pertinent to mention here that the National Assembly was dissolved on August 9 on the advice of the then prime minister Shehbaz Sharif.