KARACHI: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Saturday asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to restrain itself from taking any “extra-constitutional step” to delay the next general elections.

It also demanded that the ECP adjust old constituencies by adding new population figure instead of launching a fresh delimitation process.

The party made this demand following the ECP announcement that it would first complete the process of fresh delimitation of the national and provincial assembly constituencies by Dec 14 — over a month beyond the constitutionally-mandated deadline for conducting general elections in the country.

“The Election Act is not superior to the Constitution,” PPP Sindh president Senator Nisar Khuhro told a press conference. “The Constitution is clear that the election must be held within 90 days. So the ECP should not go for any unconstitutional move and announce general elections within 90 days,” he said.

Reiterates demand to hold polls within 90 days; PDP’s Basharat Mirza joins PPP

The press conference was held at the residence of Pakistan Democratic Party’s Bashrat Mirza, who announced joining the PPP.

When asked about the fate of the fresh delimitation exercise that was also required under the Constitution following the approval of census results, Senator Khuhro suggested an alternative arrangement as a solution.

“We demand that the ECP keep the existing delimitation intact without launching the fresh one and adjust the fresh population number in the existing constituencies,” he said, adding that the fresh delimitation would not be very effective as there were little chances of any increase in the number of seats in the national and provincial assemblies.

He also asked the ECP to review its decision to complete the process of fresh delimitation by Dec 14.

Accompanied by party’s provincial secretary general Senator Waqar Mehdi and PPP’s Karachi president Saeed Ghani, Senator Khuhro said the PPP would keep raising voice for the timely elections, and for that, it would also engage political and democratic forces to strengthen its voice.

“This issue is already being heard by the court and let’s see what it says,” he replied to a question about any plan to challenge the fresh delimitation process.

“The country cannot afford a single day of delay in the elections. If the polls are delayed, they would become controversial. There would be a question mark on their transparency. The whole process would be questioned,” he added.

He sounded confident about the prospects of his party in the upcoming elections both in rural and urban areas of Sindh and said the years-long services under the chairmanship of Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari would lead to major support in terms of votes from the people of the province.

“Above all, it’s time tested that this country can only survive under the democratic rule and only the true democratic forces can pull it out from crisis. The continuity of the democratic process is the only way forward,” he added.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2023