Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Ishtiaq Ahmed will appear before the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Karachi bench, Wednesday (today) to explain the reasons behind delay in the delimitation of constituencies in Karachi.
The apex court on Monday observed that constituencies in Karachi should be delimited in a manner that they comprise "mixed population" to avoid political polarization and issued notice to the secretary ECP when an ECP official submitted that the process of delimitation of constituencies in the city could not be initiated.
At the conclusion of ECP meeting here on Tuesday, Secretary ECP informed the media persons that the preliminary homework to initiate the process of delimitation was the sole responsibility of Provincial Government, Sindh. The provincial government did not initiate the process so far. Delimitation in the entire country was not possible in the absence of a population census. However, he said, in the case of Karachi, however, the commission would follow the directives of apex court.
The Secretary said he would produce facts and figures before the SC. He expressed the hope that the commission in co-operation with Chief Secretary Sindh and its Revenue Department would finalise the de-limitation plan for Karachi. The outcome of deliberations would also be shared with the court on the next hearing, he assured.
The Secretary further said that the issue of Karachi had two aspects--legal and political. The commission also desired to take all the political parties on board. Responding to a question, he said only less than 30 parliamentarians had not submitted their fresh oath in relation to dual nationality. They have three days as last date is November 30, according to him.
Two members of National Assembly, Dunya Aziz and R.A. Aziz Sheikh, approached ECP for remedy. Both had pleaded that they were foreign national by birth. The commission advised them that they should go to the court of law for relaxation in rules. Similarly, he said, all the decisions regarding the fate of dual nationals in Punjab Assembly would be decided after November 30.
He further said the commission rejected a request of Government of Balochistan for postponement of by-elections. The provincial government had said that law and order situation in the province did not permit the holding of scheduled by-election. The Secretary ECP said the request was declined because it was the responsibility of provincial government to maintain law and order.
He maintained that the commission also considered the allotments of symbols to 19 new political parties. The number of political parties registered with ECP reached 216. However, he said the commission would move a summary again for the allotment of symbols to new political parties. So far, he said, 171 symbols had been allotted to various political parties.
He also said the commission reviewing the identical symbols cancelled the 'cat' symbol as the features of cat were similar to tiger's that had been already allotted to Pakistan Muslim League (N). The commission approved the renaming of one party-PPP-Sherpao as Qumi Watan Party but declined the request of Sindh Urban Ruler Alliance Party. It had sought the new name of 'National People's Muslim League or People's Muslim League. The Commission agreed in principle that the request for identical names would be discouraged in future and it would urge new political parties to introduce their political manifestos.
The Secretary ECP said he would meet Chief Secretary Sindh, Revenue Department and others to finalise arrangements for election in Sindh. The decision was taken in the meeting of ECP on Tuesday. Chief Election Commissioner former Justice Fakhruddin G Ebrahim on expressed concern over the issues of Karachi's 'unverified' voters' list and de-limitation of Karachi constituencies. Meanwhile, Secretary Election Commission Ishtiaq Ahmed briefed Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on the preparations for general election.
He said the commission had prepared a code of conduct for the election. Ahmed said display of weapons would not be permitted during election campaigns, adding that candidates would have to follow all the rules and regulations devised by the commission during their rallies and public meetings. The prime minister assured the secretary of the government's co-operation.