ABBOTTABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan has retained with minor changes the delimitation of the two National Assembly and four provincial assembly constituencies in its order issued on Aug 5, rejecting the petitions filed by the 20 ‘aggrieved’ persons from Abbottabad district, seeking re-allocation of the constituencies.

An election commission bench comprising Shah Mohammad Jatoi, Babar Hassan Bharwana and Justice retired Ikramullah Khan almost retained the original constituencies in the verdict after hearing arguments of the petitioners and the delimitation committee.

The case pertained to provincial assembly constituencies of PK-39, PK-40, PK-41 and PK-42 and two National Assembly constituencies, including NA-6 and NA-17.

In their petitions, the petitioners objected to the new delimitation of the constituencies and had raised questions over attachment of their respective areas in different constituencies. They had demanded the re-allocation of the constituencies.

The delimitation committee had set the minimum and maximum limit of the voters in constituencies.

For the National Assembly constituencies, the lower limit was fixed at 633,217 voters and upper limit was fixed at 699,871 voters; and for the provincial assembly seats, lower limit was fixed 316,609 and upper limit was 349,935.

Total registered voters of Abbottabad district are 1,333,089, according to the last census.

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2022