Islamabad - Election Commission of Pakistan Secretary Babar Yaqoob Tuesday said the poll body would not be able to start work on new delimitations without legislation.

Briefing media persons, he said time was running short to start work on delimitations as it would not be possible for the ECP to complete work on new electoral rolls and new delimitations in case of delay in publishing results and providing other relevant details of the national census.

Yaqoob said holding of the next general elections was not possible without new delimitations as there were legal and constitutional hurdles in holding polls on existing delimitations.

He said the notification of results of the national census was necessary for delimitations of the existing constituencies as existing seats had no legal and constitutional status after the national census.

Expressing concerns over delay in publishing results and providing other relevant details of the census, Babar Yaqoob said they had requested the law secretary to complete work so that the ECP could fulfil its constitutional responsibilities. He asserted the ECP was ready to work on new delimitations, but it depended on sharing of the national census results.

The incumbent government will complete its tenure on June 5 next year and the general elections will take place in July.

The ECP has become economically and politically more independent following the Elections Act, 2017.

The Parliament passed the controversial Elections 2017 Bill last month under which a disqualified person can not only become a member of a political party but also can head it.

Consequent upon the legislation, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif who was disqualified by the Supreme Court in the Panama case was made the president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

The legislation has not only been challenged in the higher courts, but also the Senate passed another bill stating that no disqualified person can head a party.