MQM-P to meet CEC over final delimitation

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has decided to meet Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Raja Sultan over its reservations regarding the final delimitation list of national and provincial assembly constituencies notified by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), ARY News reported on Sunday.

Sources told ARY News that MQM-P has constituted a delegation, which will meet CEC Sikandar Raja Sultan to table the party’s reservations regarding final delimitation and Sindh election commissioner.

The MQM-P delegation will consist Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Farooq Sattar, Aminul Haque and others, sources added.

Sources also said that the delegation would also demand the Sindh election commissioner to be removed. It will file a written complaint against the role of the Provincial Election Commissioner for ‘avoiding party’s objections’, they added.

MQM-P raised concern over delimitation in Hyderabad. Members of the MQM-P coordination committee criticised the ECP for what they said carrying out delimitations to favour the PPP in Hyderabad.

They accused the ECP of working as the “B-team of the PPP” and called for undoing unjust and unfair delimitations in Hyderabad’s constituencies.

On Dec 1, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued the final constituency list containing the number of National Assembly (NA) and the Provincial Assembly (PA) seats.

The ECP spokesperson said in a statement that two special tribunals wrapped up 1,324 objections to the delimitations. There will be 266 NA and 593 PA seats across Pakistan.

General elections

It is pertinent to mention here that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) earlier announced that general elections would be held in the last week of January 2024.

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.