PPP challenges ECP decision to abolish Mirpur Sakro’s PA seat

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Friday formally challenged the latest decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to abolish the Sindh Assembly seat representing the voters of the Mirpur Sakro taluka of the Thatta district under the recently unveiled fresh delimitations of constituencies on a preliminary basis. 

The PPP’s Senator Sassui Palijo, who is also a native of the Thatta district, filed an appeal with the ECP, with the request to review its decision to abolish the Sindh Assembly seat representing the Mirpur Sakro town. Lawyer Shahab Usto filed the appeal on behalf of the Peoples Party’s senator.

Senator Palijo said in a statement that there was no valid basis to abolish the provincial assembly seat under the fresh delimitation of the constituencies, as that seat provided due representation to the people of Mirpur Sakro.

She was of the view that the decision to abolish the provincial assembly seat was taken under a conspiracy to deny the right of due representation to the residents of Mirpur Sakro as they would suffer because of such a step.

She appealed to the ECP to review its decision and keep in mind the ground realities of the area so that the residents continued to have the constitutional right of their due representation in the elected assembly.

It is worth mentioning here that Friday is the last date for filing appeals by the concerned quarters against preliminary fresh delimitations of constituencies. The ECP will conduct hearings on these appeals on October 30 and October 31.

The ECP will publish the final delimitation of the constituencies on November 30 before issuing the schedule for conducting the upcoming general elections. The appeals against the preliminary delimitations were accepted by the ECP central secretariat in Islamabad till midnight on Friday. In a recent statement, the Election Commission of Pakistan clarified that its preparations are complete to conduct the general polls in the country whose schedule would readily be announced soon after the final publishing of the fresh delimitations.