ISLAMABAD, March 4: The Election Commission on Monday resolved to “act with neutrality, objectivity, impartiality and independence” at every stage of the electoral process.
In the inaugural meeting of the Election Commission, presided over by Chief Election Commissioner Irshad Hasan Khan, it was resolved that elections would be conducted with neutrality and impartiality.
The EC also discussed delimitation of territorial constituencies for elections to the National Assembly and to each provincial assembly for general seats.
The EC decided that while formulating the delimitation proposals, the principles laid down in section 9 of the Delimitation of Constituencies Act, 1974, would be followed in letter and spirit.
The section 9 of the Act requires that homogeneity of the constituencies be maintained by maintaining their geographical compactness.
It was decided that the share of seats in NA and PAs would be worked out on the basis of 1998 population census. For this purpose, the total population of the country (minus Federally Administered Tribal Areas) would be divided by the total number of general seats.
Similarly, the population of a province will be divided by the total number of general seats of the provincial assembly. The share of a district shall be determined by dividing the population of that district with the quota per seat of the National Assembly, or, as the case may be, of the provincial assembly.
In calculating the whole number of seats, a fraction of 0.5 and above would generally be taken as one seat and fraction below 0.5 would be ignored, it was decided.
The Fata, which have been allocated 12 seats under Article 5(3) of the Conduct of General Elections Order, 2002, would be divided into 12 territorial constituencies on the basis of population as per last census.
The federal capital, Islamabad, which has been allocated two seats under the Conduct of General Elections Order, 2002, would also be divided into two territorial constituencies on the basis of population determined by the preceding census and geographical compactness of the areas.
It was decided that the EC will continue its meeting till the draft delimitation proposals were framed by it. The preliminary list of constituencies of the National Assembly and of the provincial assemblies, specifying the areas proposed to be included in each constituency, would be published in the official Gazette.
Any person entitled to vote in an election to the National Assembly or a provincial assembly would be allowed to make a representation in respect of delimitation of constituencies within 15 days of the publication of the preliminary report. The Commission will hear all representations as per schedule to be announced later on through electronic and print media.
The Election Commission gave approval, in principle, to the proposals presented by the Project Manager, UNDP for capacity building and training of polling personnel, officers and staff of the Election Commission.
