ISLAMABAD: A committee constituted by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has suggested changes in the boundaries of three Karachi constituencies of the National Assembly and eight of Sindh Assembly before announcement of the election schedule.
The committee headed by Sindh ECP Member Justice (retd) Mohammad Roshan Essani, said in its report that fresh delimitation would be contrary to judicial principles without first declaring the final lists of constituencies published by the ECP in 2002 and re-described in 2007 and 2013 as illegal.
The report submitted to the ECP said that officially published latest population figures and reallocation of seats by parliament were essential for fresh delimitation of constituencies under the law — both of which were not there at the moment. Without at least one of the two factors a fresh delimitation did not appear to be practicable, it said.
The committee said that according to the 1988 census, the population of Karachi was about 9.8 million but now it was projected at around 20m.
In a selected constituency an area with a population of 5,000 in 1988 now has an estimated 35,000 people, indicating a seven-fold increase. “This phenomenon deterred the committee from proposing large-scale alterations, as it could result in imbalanced constituencies leading to legal challenges,” the report said.
It noted that three major parties having representation in parliament and the Sindh Assembly had not submitted any proposal to change the boundaries of constituencies in Karachi.
The committee found that most of the constituencies in the city were inhabited by various communities, although there was variation in the percentage in different areas.
It endorsed the observation made by the ECP in its March 7 order that the delimitation of constituencies carried out in 2002 had never been challenged by any quarter nor been held to have been done illegally, justifying interference from any court. “Even the apex court in its judgment dated Oct 6 has not held the delimitation carried out by this commission in 2002 as illegal or suffering from any legal infirmity.”