LAHORE MIRROR – The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday ruled out any delay in the general elections in the country, saying that the polls will be held before October 11, if the national and two provincial assemblies were not dissolved before expiry of their term on August 12.
Speaking at press conference, ECP Secretary Omar Hamid Khan and Special Secretary Zafar Iqbal Hussain assured the public that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is fully prepared to conduct elections, whether within 60 days or 90 days.
During the conference, Mr. Hussain mentioned that the judiciary has been approached to allocate judicial officers to fulfill duties as district returning officers (DROs) and returning officers (ROs). The ECP has already procured watermark papers for ballot papers and obtained other essential election materials. They have also prepared a draft list of polling stations and a data bank of polling staff. Coordination with printing presses for the printing of ballot papers and nomination papers has been successfully completed.
To a question, Mr Hussain confirmed that there will be no fresh delimitation of constituencies prior to the electoral process. The elections will be conducted under the previous census and delimitation. He further mentioned that the elections will adhere to the electoral reforms, which are expected to be approved by the parliament shortly.
According to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the government plans to transfer its powers to a caretaker set-up in August. However, it remains uncertain whether the coalition partners prefer the National Assembly (NA) to automatically dissolve on August 12, when its term completes, or if they will request the president to dissolve it earlier.
While the majority of allies, notably the PPP, have advocated for timely elections, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has raised the possibility of dissolving the assembly earlier than the due date to “facilitate” the ECP’s efforts in conducting the elections smoothly.
