The Election Commission (ECP) of Pakistan on Friday revealed that the training of five delimitation committees for electoral constituencies has been concluded successfully.

The Chief Election Commissioner, retired Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza, and Election Commission Secretary Babar Yaqoob reviewed the three-day training programme during which, officers were given detailed briefings on various aspects of the delimitation process.

Raza said "the delimitation of constituencies is a national responsibility on the shoulders of ECP officers," whom he directed 'to conduct the process according to the country's laws and to the best of their abilities'.

Meanwhile, the ECP secretary called an important meeting on Monday to discuss the delimitation process and the preparation of electoral lists. The meeting will be attended by the secretary of the Statistics Division as well as officials from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics and ECP.

In that meeting, the Statistics Division is expected to give a briefing on the progress of maps and other documentation required for delimitation and the preparation of electoral lists.

It is pertinent to mention here that the ECP has instructed all relevant departments to provide it with all the required documents and data by January 10.

Delimitation is the pre-electoral exercise of redrawing boundaries of constituencies so that the balance of population remains even throughout. It sometimes becomes just as important as the vote itself as unbalanced or discriminatory delimitation, also known as gerrymandering, can easily be used to gain an unfair advantage over political rivals — a concept not unheard of in Pakistan.