ECP emergency meeting likely to announce election schedule today

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is set to unveil the election schedule today, following an “emergency meeting” prompted by discussions with various stakeholders.

The ECP had recently engaged in consecutive meetings with officials from different political parties to gauge their stance on elections and delimitation, among other matters.

During this crucial meeting, led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja in Islamabad, the ECP will likely focus on strategies to expedite the delimitation process.

A day earlier, the election watchdog had committed to accelerating the delimitation of constituencies and subsequently announcing a schedule for the forthcoming general elections. This assurance alleviated concerns that the electoral process might be postponed indefinitely to extend the tenure of the interim government.

The ECP provided reassurances to delegations from political parties including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), and the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) during separate consultative meetings at the ECP Secretariat in the federal capital.

These meetings occurred in the context of the ECP ruling out elections for the current year.

Earlier this week, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) furnished the necessary data for the digital census conducted in 2023 to the election supervisory body. The digital census, conducted from March to May, saw its results approved by the Council of Common Interest (CCI) on August 5, just before the dissolution of the National Assembly.

Following the census approval, the ECP is obligated to conduct the upcoming general elections based on the latest census data. The election supervisor had already announced plans to reconfigure the constituencies in line with the digital census within 120 days.

Former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif dissolved the National Assembly on August 9, three days prior to the mandated period’s conclusion. The constitutional deadline for the ECP to hold elections expires on November 9.