ISLAMABAD -UNS: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) released the preliminary delimitation lists on Wednesday.
In a press release issued here, the ECP informed the public that the preliminary delimitation report, along with Form 5 lists, has been posted on the commission’s website, along with maps of the initial delimitation.
The publication of preliminary constituencies will extend for 30 days, from September 27 to October 26, during which objections (representations) regarding the preliminary constituencies can be submitted by the voters of the relevant constituency.
Initially, according to the original delimitation schedule set by the ECP on Aug 17, the initial delimitation process was supposed to conclude on Oct 7, with preliminary delimitation proposals and the accompanying report set to be published on October 9.
However, on September 1, the ECP announced a compression of the delimitation timeline by 14 days, aiming to finalise the process by November 30 instead of the originally planned December 14.
This development clears the path for the Election Commission to make a decision on holding elections in the last week of January. A specific election date has yet to be announced.
The report explained the methodology employed by the ECP in delimiting national and provincial assembly seats. It explained that the population of each province or area was divided by the total number of general seats, yielding the average population per National Assembly seat.
A similar process was employed for provincial assembly seats. In cases where the fraction exceeded 0.5, it was considered as one seat, while fractions below 0.5 were disregarded.
Additionally, the report acknowledged the unique situation in Balochistan, where multiple districts were combined to form a single seat. This approach was also adopted in other provinces as necessary. District shares were determined by dividing the district’s population by the quota per seat for the National or Provincial Assembly, as applicable.
The report revealed that Punjab has the largest number of seats in the National Assembly, followed by Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Islamabad.
In Punjab, with a population of 127.6 million, 141 National Assembly seats were allocated, with each constituency based on a quota of 905,595. For the Punjab Assembly, 297 seats were assigned, with a quota of 429,929 per seat.
In Sindh, 61 National Assembly seats were designated for a population of 55.6 million, with a quota of 913,052 per seat. The Sindh Assembly had 130 seats, each with a quota of 428,432.
