Eight Punjab districts: IHC turns down delimitation of constituencies

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday turned down delimitation of constituencies in eight districts and directed Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conduct fresh delimitation there in accordance with law. Justice Aamer Farooq of IHC heard the case and announced the judgment in more than 40 identical petitions raising objections over delimitations.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistani Tehreek-e-Insaf members have challenged the delimitations of the constituencies in the country. The court declared null and void the delimitations of eight districts including Bahawalpur, Chakwal, Rahimyar Khan, Jhang, Jhelum, Toba Tek Singh, Lower Dir and Batgram and ordered the ECP to conduct fresh delimitations in accordance with rules.
The court directed the ECP to conduct delimitation in above districts keeping in view the ratio of their population and disposed of the 40 identical petitions. It may be mentioned here that a total of 108 petitions were under process with the IHC regarding the objections over delimitation.
The petitioners had argued that standard procedures had not been followed in the delimitation of the constituencies.
Justice Aamir Farooq ruled that the rules for proportion of population that have been followed in the delimitation of other constituencies should be kept in view while delimiting constituencies in these eight districts.
The ECP's delimitations have faced severe criticism from political circles. A committee of National Assembly had previously expressed its displeasure over non-transparency of the exercise, while a total of 108 petitions were filed with the IHC alone against the delimitation exercise, many of which remain pending.
According to the procedure, the ECP follows a set formula for the number of provincial and NA seats a district is allotted. However, the final mapping within the districts remains largely opaque and open to controversy.