Sindh interim chief minister-designate, retired Justice Maqbool Baqar, has said that “every effort” should be made to speed the delimitations process up and it would be ideal if the elections were held in the prescribed 90-day timeframe.

While giving an interview to Dawn News English, the CM-designate stated that it would be ideal if elections are held within the time prescribed by the constitution however the caretaker government will take a holistic view of the “constitutional position”.

“Every effort should be made to speed it up, and it would be ideal if the elections are held within the time prescribed but then again we have to see and analyse the constitutional position, taking a holistic view,” he said.

Delimitation — or halqa-bandi — is the process of dividing up a country’s total area into smaller units in order to conduct elections smoothly and efficiently. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is tasked with delimiting the national and provincial level constituencies based on the census.

Initially, the elections were expected to be held on the 2017 census, and several members of the erstwhile cabinet had suggested as much.

However, the Council of Common Interests (CCI) had later approved the results of the 2023 digital census on August 5, making it almost certain that general elections may not be held this year as the fresh delimitations, which may take months, has now become compulsory.

The caretaker chief minister stated that the decision regarding the delimitations was taken by all “active” political parties and as a caretaker CM of the province, he cannot interfere in the process, adding that the responsibility for the delimitations lies with the ECP and the government will assist them if necessary.

“This is a decision made by all the active political parties of Pakistan and this is their decision so as a caretaker I cannot interfere in that,” he said.

While referring to Karachi, the incoming caretaker CM listed a series of woes that the city struggles with, adding that he will try to do well for the city but limited resources would be an issue.

“So far as the city is concerned, the city of Karachi is facing gigantic problems … we are overpopulated, there is a law and order situation, our infrastructure is crumbling, there are electricity outages, there is water shortage, public transport is another problem

“I promise this much that I will try to do as much as possible given the circumstances,” he said.

Justice Baqar is expected to be sworn in to the post today, according to a Dawn report.