March 30, 2008	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 21, 1429

LAHORE, March 29: Election Commission of Pakistan Secretary Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad has said the ECP will cater for the byelection to 30 seats for the national and provincial assemblies, besides five seats of the Senate. The date for bypolls will be announced after all the assemblies swear in.He was speaking to reporters after attending the Provincial Review Workshop, organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for sharing information and experience with the deputy election commissioners and assistant election commissioners of Punjab on Saturday.

The secretary said the byelection would take place for roughly 10 seats of the national assembly and 20 of the provincial assemblies. The exact number of seats would be determined after the parliamentarians, who had won two seats, vacated one each.

Answering a question about unexpectedly high turnout on Feb 18 keeping in view lawlessness, the ECP secretary said the people had made up their mind that they would cast their votes to strengthen the democratic process in the country. He said more than 30 complaints were pending with the ECP regarding the elections, which would soon be referred to the tribunals for hearing.