Election Commission to consult parties on Karachi delimitation

The Election Commission of Pakistan will consult political parties to examine the issue of delimitation of constituencies in Karachi Division in the light of the observations of the Apex Court, the Commission said Friday.

For this purpose, letters have sent to political parties asking them to nominate not more than two representatives to attend the meeting on 20th December, in the ECP Secretariat, Islamabad.

The Supreme Court on in October last year passed in Suo Moto Case had observed that to avoid political polarization and to break the cycle of ethnic strife and turf war, boundaries of administrative units like police stations and revenue estates ought to be altered.

The court had further observed that the members of different communities may live together in peace and harmony, instead of allowing various groups to claim that particular areas belong to them and declaring certain areas as NO GO Areas under their fearful influence.

“Subsequent thereto, on similar considerations, in view of relevant laws, delimitation of different constituencies has also to be undertaken with the same object and purpose, particularly to make Karachi, which is the hub of economic and commercial activities and also the face of Pakistan, a peaceful city in the near future”.

The Court had asked the Election Commission to initiate the process on its own. Also on 28th November, a larger Bench of the Apex Court passed an Order in the matter.

The order said that the court was informed by the Election Commission officials that neither the Constitutional preovision nor the Delimitation of Constituencies Act are hurdle in the compliance of such observations.

The court was also assured that now the task of delimitation of different constituencies in Karachi has been taken up by the Election Commission of Pakistan with the Government of Sindh, and, for this purpose, from today onward, he is going to hold three meetings with the concerned officials of the Government of Sindh, particularly, the Chief Secretary, Government of Sindh to make substantial progress in this regard.

The Commission officials had told the court that compliance of observations regarding delimitation of constituencies will be done / completed in its letter and spirit within the shortest possible time, after following due procedure and taking on board all the stakeholders, and such comprehensive report will be submitted for the perusal of this Court.

The Chief Secretary, Government of Sindh, who was also present in Court, had assured fullest cooperation to the Election Commission of Pakistan for this purpose. The Chief Secretary brought to the court’s notice that boundaries of certain police stations at Karachi, as administrative units, have already been reconstituted, while the concerned District Coordination Officers/Deputy Commissioners has informed him that except in District West no reconstitution of revenue estate boundaries is required.

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Posted by Tahir Khan on Dec 14 2012. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.