Election Commission of Pakistan building in Islamabad. Photo: Radio Pakistan
ISLAMABAD:
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has notified delimitation schedules for the Quetta and Kharian cantonment boards following their reclassification by the federal government.
The federal government has reclassified the Quetta Cantonment Board from Class-II to Class-I and that in Punjab’s Kharian from Class-III to Class-II. The ECP has fixed the number of wards in Quetta at 10 and five in Kharian.
According to three notifications issued on Oct 29, the delimitation exercise for Quetta and Kharian will be carried out from November this year until January 2027.
Administrative arrangements, including the procurement of maps and training of committees and authorities, will be completed from Nov 2 to 4, and delimitation committees will prepare preliminary lists of wards from Nov 5 to 19, which will be published on Nov 20 to invite objections.
Objections can be filed before delimitation authorities from Nov 21 to Dec 20. The authorities will dispose of objections by Jan 5, 2027 and communicate decisions to committees by Jan 8. Final lists of wards will be published on Jan 13.
The ECP has appointed the Gujrat district election commissioner as the convener of the delimitation committee for Kharian, with the Kharian cantonment executive officer and Gujrat assistant election commissioner as members.
For Quetta, the Quetta East district election commissioner will act as convener, while the Quetta additional cantonment executive officer and Quetta East assistant election commissioner will serve as members.
The regional election commissioners for Gujranwala and Quetta have been appointed as delimitation authorities for the Kharian and Quetta cantonment boards, respectively, to decide objections.
The commission directed that officers appointed for delimitation shall not be transferred without its prior approval.
Women voters
The ECP will launch a pilot project in Kasur district of Punjab and Qambar Shahdadkot district of Sindh from December 2026 to February 2027 to facilitate the registration of 174,845 women as voters and help reduce the gender gap in electoral rolls through improved access to identity cards and voter registration services.
According to ECP, the initiative aims to identify eligible women who do not possess Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs) or are not registered as voters, persuade them to complete the process and facilitate their registration through door-to-door outreach and mobile registration facilities.
Under the initiative, the Commission will facilitate the registration of 115,689 women in Kasur and 59,156 in Qambar Shahdadkot.
The project will initially prioritize statistical blocks with a higher gender gap in voter registration, based on available data.
The required data will be collected in November 2026, followed by registration activities from December 2026 to February 2027.
Local social workers and enumerators will conduct door-to-door visits to prepare statistical block wise lists of eligible women and raise awareness about the importance of obtaining CNICs and registering as voters.
To improve access, the ECP will coordinate with the NADRA to deploy Mobile Registration Vans (MRVs) to women’s doorsteps. Registration facilities will also be provided at centres established in government buildings.
