PESHAWAR: The chairmen of several village councils in Nowshera district have requested the Election Commission of Pakistan not to make changes to the draft delimitation of their provincial assembly constituency PK-89, insisting that the demarcation of the constituency is in line with the law.

In their petitions filed through lawyer Malik Ijaz, Taimur Kamal, Munir Khan, Fazal Nabi, Sanaullah, Muhibullah Shah and Malik Qasim of the Tarkha, Babi, Amankot, Khushmaqam, Banda Mulahan and Akberpura village councils respectively also said the ECP should make them party to any objection petition against the delimitation of that constituency.

They said that after the digital population and housing census, that delimitation was made strictly in accordance with the Constitution, Elections Act and other laws, to the complete satisfaction of the people of PK-89 and their representatives.

The village council chairmen said that the creation of the provincial constituency PK-89 was in accordance with ground realities and that all adjacent areas were included in the constituency, a move acceptable to the people of the area as it was in line with their expectations and wishes.

They said that for the delimitation of the provincial and national assembly constituencies of the country and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the ECP had conducted proper inquiries, issued preliminary report and a list of constituencies after “hectic and laborious” efforts as it was a challenging task, which was completed with full devotion.

The council chairmen contended that the delimitation of PK-89 (Nowshera) was carried out after a proper inquiry and considered the adjacent areas and other ingredients as required under the law and having regard to the distribution of population in geographically compact areas, physical features, existing boundaries of administration units, facilities of communication and public convenience and other cognate factors by ensuring homogeneity created PK-89 constituency.

They added that the public representatives from the constituency had also passed a resolution and held a news conference on the matter.

The petitioners warned that changes made to the constituency won’t be acceptable to the general people. They requested the ECP not to disturb, amend or modify the said constituency.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2023