ISLAMABAD: In an important step towards the exercise to redraw boundaries for general elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday notified five delimitation committees — one each for all the four provinces and the federal capital, but opted to keep the composition of committees a secret.

It has neither placed the composition of the committee on its website, nor shared it with the media otherwise.

An official, when contacted, said the decision not to make the notification public had been taken to make the delimitation exercise free of external influence.

The ECP said the fresh delimitation, which has become controversial even before commencement, would be conducted in line with Article 51 of the Constitution and Section 17(2) of the Elections Act, 2017 that says the commission shall delimit constituencies after every census officially published.

Five committees formed, one for each province as well as Islamabad; commission appoints adviser in grade 22 to cope with ‘heavy workload’

According to an Aug 17 notification, the committees will receive districts’ maps and necessary data from the federal capital and provinces until Aug 31. From Sept 1, the commission will begin a four-day training programme for the team and the delimitation of constituencies will be completed from Sept 7 to 8.

The ECP will issue the details of the delimitation of constituencies on Oct 9 after that it will receive the applications related to objections and recommendations, which would be heard by the commission between Oct 10 and Dec 9. The process will be completed on Dec 14.

Oversight committee

On Monday, the ECP also formed a high-level oversight committee to ensure all the related material and data are received for the delimitation of constituencies on time.

The oversight committee will be headed by special secretary of the commission. In this connection, the ECP secretary presided over a meeting here at the commission secretariat to review preparations for the general elections. The meeting was attended by the special secretary, director general (law), provincial election commissioners and other senior officers.

The special secretary and provincial election commissioners briefed the election commission secretary on the arrangements made so far regarding the conduct of the elections. The ECP secretary expressed satisfaction over the arrangements made so far; he ordered that all the wings in-charge and provincial election commissioners of the ECP should ensure immediate completion of all arrangements related to the conduct of elections, contact the concerned institutions and availability of necessary election materials in this regard.

He directed the provincial election commissioners and additional director general (elections), Islamabad, to ensure they have received the necessary maps and other data from the provincial governments and statistics department on time. In this regard, the ECP constituted the high-level oversight committee under the chairmanship of special secretary.

ECP hires adviser on polls

Separately, the commission has also appointed a retired governmental servant as the first-ever special adviser on elections in grade 22.

Sources told Dawn that the post had recently been created and the individual selected for the position, Dr Syed Asif Hussain, has served as an additional chief secretary of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

He has a PhD from the US and took postdoctoral advanced management courses from Harvard University and the Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands.

A senior ECP official told Dawn Dr Hussain assumed charge of office on Monday. “The appointment has been made in view of the heavy workload due to upcoming general polls,” the official said.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2023