ISLAMABAD:The Electoral Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has allocated a total of 266 seats for the National Assembly, 297 seats for the Punjab Assembly, 130 seats for the Sindh Assembly, 51 seats for the Balochistan Assembly, and 115 seats for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.
Notably, the inaugural constituency for the National Assembly will be NA-1 Chitral, and the concluding one will be NA-266 Qila Abdullah and Chaman. Similarly, the first Punjab Assembly constituency is PP-1 Attock, and the final one is PP-297 Rajanpur.
In Sindh, the initial constituency is PS-1 Jacobabad, while the ultimate one is PS-130 Central Karachi. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it commences with PK-1 Chitral and wraps up with PK-115 Dera Ismail Khan. As for Balochistan, the starting constituency is PB-1 Shirani Wajub, and the last is PB-51 Chaman.
The ECP’s report indicated that the final outcomes of the 7th digital census were officially released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on August 7. Subsequently, the ECP initiated the delimitation process in accordance with Section 17 of the Elections Act, 2017.
Regarding this issue, five delimitation committees were established to draft proposals for the constituency delimitation of the assemblies. The report also detailed the ECP’s procedure for delimiting seats in the National and provincial assemblies.
The population of the province or area was divided by the total number of general seats, leading to the determination of the average population quota per National Assembly seat. Similarly, the population of a province was divided by the total number of general seats allotted to its provincial assembly to establish a quota per seat.
In the calculation of the total number of seats, any fraction equal to or greater than 0.5 was typically rounded up to one seat, while fractions below 0.5 were disregarded,” clarified the report. It further noted that, due to Balochistan’s unique circumstances, multiple districts have been combined to form a single seat. This practice has also been applied in other provinces when necessary.
“The allocation for a district was established by dividing its population by the quota per seat of the National Assembly or, if applicable, the Provincial Assembly,” the report stated. Additionally, the report highlighted that Punjab has the largest number of seats in the National Assembly, followed by Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Islamabad.
Breaking it down, Punjab, with a population of 127.6 million, has been assigned 141 seats in which each constituency has been delimited with a quota of 905,595. Furthermore, the Punjab Assembly is allotted 297 seats, with each quota seat set at 429,929.
In Sindh, the distribution of 61 National Assembly seats for its 55.6 million population has been based on a quota of 913,052 per seat. In the case of the Sindh Assembly, the 130 seats have been apportioned with a quota of 428,432 per seat.
Regarding Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the census recorded a population of 40.8 million, leading to the allocation of 45 National Assembly seats.
Each of these National Assembly seats has been delimited based on a quota of 907,913. In the context of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, the distribution comprises 115 seats with each seat determined by a quota of 355,270.
In Balochistan, a population of 14.8 million has resulted in the allocation of 16 National Assembly seats, with each constituency divided based on a quota of 930,900. For the provincial assembly, which comprises 51 seats, each seat has
been delimited using a quota of 292,047.
In contrast, Islamabad, the federal capital with a population of 2.3 million, has been allocated 3 seats, with each seat’s quota determined at 787,954.
Last week, the ECP announced that the general elections in Pakistan are scheduled for the final week of January 2024.
The election commission also determined that the ultimate list of constituencies would be released on November 30, following the review of objections and input regarding the delimitations.
Following the conclusion of the 54-day election timeline, the elections will take place in the final week of January next year, as indicated in the ECP statement.