New delimitations: Karachi’s NA, PA seats increased

The number of the National Assembly (NA) and Provincial Assembly (PA) seats in Karachi has increased after the new delimitations approved by the election commission under the 2023 digital census data, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued preliminary list of new delimitations under the 2023 digital census data today and uploaded it to its website.

Under the new delimitations, three PA and one NA seats in Karachi have increased. A provincial assembly’s seat in Karachi’s South District was increased and another PA seat was increased in the Malir District, whereas, an NA seat was also increased in Karachi.

On the other hand, one PA seat each was decreased in Khairpur, Sanghar, and Thatta. After the reduction, there are only two PA seats left in Thatta.

A National Assembly seat was decreased in Shikarpur and only NA seat was left now.

Earlier today, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued preliminary list of new delimitations ahead of general polls.

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.

Yesterday, the delimitation process of for the national and provincial assemblies entered its final phase and the ECP decided to approve initial delimitations.

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.