ISLAMABAD: A senior official of Pakistan's election commission said on Monday it was not possible to hold general elections in the country within a span of three months since fresh delimitation of constituencies was required in certain areas which could take substantial amount of time.
Pakistan is likely to witness fresh elections before the current term of parliament ends in 2023. President Arif Alvi dissolved the nation assembly on Sunday on Prime Minister Imran Khan's advice after a no-confidence motion against the latter was declared unconstitutional through a speaker's ruling.
While the Supreme Court has taken up the matter, the polls will have to be conducted within 90 days if the prime minister prevails.
Speaking to Dawn, an ECP official said election preparations could take about six months due to the required delimitation of constituencies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the merger of the tribal areas with the rest of the province.
"Delimitation is a time-consuming exercise where the law provides for one month's time just to invite objections," the official told the newspaper on condition of anonymity.
He added that another month would be needed to address the objections before the upgradation of voters' lists.
The official also maintained that procurement of election material, including watermarked ballot papers that had to be imported, along with the training of polling staff were some of the other challenges.
"Referring to some legal hitches, the official said that under Section 14 of the Elections Act, the ECP was to announce an election plan four months prior to the polls," Dawn reported. "He said the law requiring use of EVMs (electronic voting machines) and giving overseas Pakistanis voting rights also held the field and had to be repealed."
He said the ECP has already announced the schedule for local government (LG) elections in Balochistan which were going to be held on May 29.
"We will have to drop the plan for LG polls, if general elections are to be conducted," he added.