Fresh delimitation drive: MQM-P voices its serious concerns about the role of electoral team

ISLAMABAD: Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) has alleged that the electoral team working under the leadership of Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja is “compromised”— and that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has “worsened” the mistakes in the freshly completed delimitation drive - instead of rectifying them.

“We have a lot of expectations with the chief election commissioner—but we do not see our valid reservations being addressed— the team working under him (CEC) is compromised,” Convenor MQM-P Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui told the media at the ECP headquarters after a meeting with the CEC on Monday.

He led a delegation that called on the CEC on the latter’s invitation to discuss MQM-P’s concerns regarding the delimitation of constituencies of the assemblies for the general elections.

The MQM-P convenor alleged that provincial election commissioner in Sindh was a worker of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

“It seems that the money the PPP has been throwing, to get the things go its way, is impacting the ECP—the mistakes committed in the previous delimitation have simply been worsened in the fresh delimitation,” Siddiqui deplored.

He minced no words to question the impartiality of the ECP, accusing the poll entity of not taking steps to hold impartial general elections. “The partiality of these elections is becoming more and more evident,” he told the journalists.

Siddiqui further alleged that the ECP did not consider even a single objection to the delimitation drive, regarding Sindh, raised by the MQM-P.

“Sindh is electorally divided into two parts. Only a formal announcement to this effect is awaited,” he said.

“Our objections to the delimitation in Sindh were so legitimate that everyone agreed to them. But there is nothing the ECP has done to address these concerns,” he said, referring to the alleged inclusion of rural areas in the urban population in Sindh, in the fresh delimitation, by the ECP. Siddiqui also took on Sindh’s caretaker set-up and accused it of working on the behest of PPP. “The caretaker governments are at the helm—but in reality— there is no caretaker government in Sindh. The caretaker set-up in Sindh is less of a caretaker government and more of PPP government,” he alleged.

MQM-P leader Farooq Sattar indicated moving to Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the delimitation drive.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023