ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday decided to arrange upcoming General Elections 2018 under the supervision of subordinate courts.
In a statement issued by the commission, the appointments of district returning officers will be carried out by judicial officials for which, letters have been dispatched to the registrars of high courts.
The commission has also sought lists of district and session judges and civil judges from the registrar under section 50 and 51 of the Election Act.
The general elections are scheduled to be held on the 15th July 2018, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had said in December last year.
On Thursday, the ECP announced that the total number of registered voters in the country has reached the figure of 104,267,581 — with 58,463,228 male and 45,804,353 female voters. According to the latest statistics, the gap between male and female voters has increased, amounting to 12,658,875.
Preliminary electoral rolls-2018 shared by the ECP reveal that out of the total registered voters 59,740,095 voters are from Punjab, 22,066,558 from Sindh, 15,239,571 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 4,194,311 from Balochistan, 2,296,849 from Fata and 730,197 voters are from the federal capital.
However, there has been some uncertainty regarding the timely holding of polls, especially due to the controversy surrounding the delimitations of constituencies.
The ECP so far received 217 objections on delimitation of the constituencies. According to ECP, the commission has received 115 objections from Punjab and Islamabad, 70 from Sindh, eight from Balochistan and 24 from FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.