ISLAMABAD - The Punjab government has once again requested the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to delay publication of the initial delimitation of constituencies.
It is the third time the Punjab government has requested to postpone the publication of the initial delimitation of the constituencies in Punjab in order to avoid any legal complications.
According to a reliable source in ECP, the commission will examine the letter of the Punjab government in which they had asked for delaying the publications of the initial delimitation and would make the final decision in this regard.
The sources within ECP told The Nation that the Punjab government in the letter had stated that the cabinet committee would examine the names of village neighbourhood and keep the recommendations in front of the Punjab Assembly cabinet.
The ECP in its various statements has said that they have done all the homework and are fully prepared and ready for the publication of preliminary list of delimitated constituencies in Punjab; however the ECP twice delayed the publications after the Punjab government requested ECP to delay the publication.
Meanwhile, a senior official of ECP told The Nation that the Punjab government was using delaying tactics to hold the Local Government elections in the province. The official said that the ECP on August 18, 2020 had delayed the publications of the delimitations from August 21 to September 18, 2020 and they were once again asking the commission to further delay the date, official added.
It is important to mention here that the Chief Election Commissioner Raja Sikandar Sultan has repeatedly asked the provinces to play their part in paving the way for LG elections as they had already missed the due date of the elections.
The commission in this regard has held many important meetings to convince the provinces for holding the LG elections with no further delay as it was the need of the time and a constitutional duty of the commission.
