ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that general elections in the country will be held on February 11, 2024.
The date was shared with the Supreme Court by the ECP’s counsel during the hearing of petitions seeking timely elections across the country.
“There will be elections in the country.” [after] Delimitation will be completed on November 30,” ECP counsel Sajeel Swati told the three-member bench.
The bench includes Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faiz Isa, Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Amin-ud-din Khan. This was the second hearing on the petitions by a three-member bench.
The country is engulfed in political uncertainty after the Imran Khan government was removed through a no-confidence motion in April 2022.
The Shehbaz Sharif-led government, which took over from Khan, dissolved the National Assembly on August 9, while the Sindh and Balochistan assemblies were also dissolved prematurely to allow the electoral authority to hold elections in the country within 90 days. So to receive.
Had the assemblies been dissolved on time, the electoral body would have been constitutionally bound to hold elections within 60 days.
However, the ECP decided not to hold the elections within the stipulated time as the Council of Common Interest (CCI) had approved the 7th Population and Housing Census 2023 a few days before the dissolution of the assemblies.
The CCI approval made it mandatory for the Commission to hold elections after fresh delimitations in the light of the census results.
Subsequently, on 17 August, the ECP announced the schedule of fresh delimitation to be done as per the new census approved by the CCI.
But in September, the Commission announced that general elections in the country will be held in the last week of January 2024.
In the same month, the ECP also released the provisional report on the delimitation of constituencies based on the recently concluded census, taking the much-demanded general elections one step closer.
However, before the announcement, several petitions were filed in the Supreme Court against delaying the elections.
All the petitioners had asked the top court to ensure that the elections are held within 90 days.
These petitions were filed during the tenure of former Chief Justice Omar Ata Bandial, however, their hearing was not scheduled.
details to follow…
