ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday squeezed the timeline for delimitation of constituencies of the national and provincial assemblies to complete the exercise by Nov 30.

Informed sources said that the decision paves the way for holding elections in the last week of January 2024, unless the Supreme Court intervenes — with Jan 28 as the most probable date. They said that in case of any practical difficulties, the election date could move to Feb 4.

The decision to cut the duration of delimitation exercise — which under the previously announced schedule was to be completed on Dec 14 — was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja.

When asked what will the commission do if the apex court intervened and directed it to drop the fresh delimitation plan and conduct general polls in 90 days to meet the constitutional requirement, a senior ECP official said: “We will comply with it [SC order].”

However, he said the ECP has yet to receive a copy of the Supreme Court’s judgement rejecting the commission’s petition seeking review of a verdict in a case relating to conduct of elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa following dissolution of the two provincial assemblies.

“It was not for the ECP to wring its hands and then bow under the weight of its own professed inability to persuade or cajole the executive to obey the constitutional command of Article 220 and pass an unconstitutional order of pushing forward the election by several months,” observed Justice Munib Akhtar in a detailed judgement passed on Aug 4. The ECP had filed a review petition against the judgement, but it was dismissed by the Supreme Court on Thursday.

The verdict had noted that in case of any difficulties, the ECP needs to seek relief from the apex court instead of postponing the polls on its own.

Legal experts believe that the SC judgement has laid down a principle which is bound to have implications for the upcoming general polls, due by Nov 8 under the Constitution.

The ECP’s decision to squeeze the timeline for delimitation is based on feedback from political parties and meant to hold general elections “as soon as possible”, the electoral watchdog said in a press release. “The election schedule will also be announced keeping in view the amended delimitation schedule,” it added.

The decision was announced as a two-day training for 26 members of the delimitation committees started at Pakistan Electoral Academy for Democratic Practices, Research, and Management, ECP Secretariat, on Friday. The training under the previous schedule was to continue for four days.

“During the training, the participants will learn the legal framework for delimitation of constituencies, along with international standards of delimitation and principles of delimitation,” according to the ECP.