The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday issued the initial delimitation list of erstwhile Fata in which it proposed the addition of 16 seats to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly from the eight newly-constituted districts.

According to the proposed delimitation, three seats each have been suggested from Bajur and Khyber districts; two seats each from Kurrum, Mahmand, South Waziristan and North Waziristan districts; while one each from Orakzai and Frontier Region districts.

The ECP has said that it will receive objections over the proposed delimitation from January 3 to February 1. The objections filed in this regard will be heard from February 3 to March 1, while a final report will be issued on March 4.

Following are the constituencies proposed by the ECP

1. PK-100 Bajur-I, population: 351,555
2. PK-101 Bajur-II, population: 348,386
3. PK-102 Bajur-III, population: 393,743,
4. PK-103 Mahmand-I, population: 243,426
5. PK-104 Mahmand-II, population: 228,931
6. PK-105 Khyber-I, population: 314,569
7. PK-106 Khyber-II, population: 348,756
8. PK-107 Khyber-III, population: 323,648
9. PK-108 Kurrum-I, population: 339,247
10. PK-109 Kurrum-II, population: 280,306
11. PK-110 Orakzai, population: 254,356
12. PK-111 North Waziristan-I, population: 271,057
13. PK-112 North Waziristan-II, population: 272,197
14. PK-113 North Waziristan-I, population: 321,077
15. PK-114 North Waziristan-II, population: 352,988
16. PK-115 Frontier Region, population 357,687

In May last year, former president Mamnoon Hussain had signed the 25th Constitutional Amendment Bill into law, thus merging Fata with KP.

The bill, approved by parliament as well as the KP Assembly, had been signed by the president at a special ceremony also attended by KP Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, head of Fata Reforms Committee Sartaj Aziz and National Security Adviser Nasir Janjua.

The Senate of Pakistan had received the bill from the Ministry of Law and Justice after its passage from the KP's provincial assembly on May 28.

The constitutional amendment bill seeking the merger of Fata within a year's time had been passed by the National Assembly and the Senate in the same month amidst opposition by the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party.

Subsequently, the ECP used provisional census data to carry out delimitation of constituencies under the Election Bill of 2017.