New delimitations inevitable for general elections: ECP legal team

ISLAMABAD: The legal team of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has declared new delimitations inevitable after the 2023 census for the upcoming general elections, ARY News reported on Thursday.

The chief election commissioner (CEC) chaired a key session to discuss the new census data and delimitations ahead of the general elections. The session was attended by four ECP members, secretary and the legal team.

Sources told ARY News that the legal team briefed the ECP high-ups on the requirement of the new delimitations after the 2023 census. The legal team also gave a briefing on Article 51 and Election Act’s Clause 17.

The team recommended to complete new delimitations and declared it ‘inevitable’ for the general elections.

Sources added that the commission will make a decision soon on whether to initiate new delimitations or not.

READ: Elections to be held on census 2023, confirms PBS director

On August 7, the federal government had notified the results of the seventh census after approval from the Council of Common Interests (CCI).

According to a notification, Pakistan’s population has crossed 241 million including 147.7 million rural and 93.7 million urban population.

Province-wise, Punjab’s population has reached 127.7 million, and Sindh’s population is recorded at 55.6 million, as per the results of the digital census.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s population has reached 40.8 million, while Balochistan’s population was recorded at 14.8 million, the notification said and added Islamabad’s population has reached 2.36 million.

According to these figures, the population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa increased by 2.38 percent, Punjab 2.53 percent, Sindh 2.57 percent and Balochistan 3.2 percent.