ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday wrote a letter to the Law Ministry seeking early publication of the national census results so that the process of delimitation of constituencies required under the Elections Act of 2017 may be carried out. The letter was written by ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad to the Federal Secretary for Law and Justice Karamat Hussain Niazi, pointing out that under Article 51(5) of the constitution, seats were allocated to the provinces, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the Federal Capital in accordance with their population. The letter stated that the provisional results of the national census released last week showed tangible demographic changes. It said the reallocation of seats not only in the National Assembly but also in the provincial assemblies had become necessary. It said if seats were to be reallocated accordingly, the ECP would have to delimit constituencies as per Chapter 3 of the Elections Act 2017. Under Chapter 3 of the act, the ECP is required delimit territorial constituencies for elections to the National Assembly, each provincial assembly and to the local governments. The letter states that keeping in view the importance, magnitude of work and the time period required for completion of delimitation, the early publication of the official census results was essential, as a delay would not allow the process to be completed in time. It said the process was to be carried out after every census.
Published in Daily Times, August 30th 2017.
