The ECP is gearing up for March by-elections in more than 60 NA seats

The Election Commission building in Islamabad.

The ECP will hold by-polls in National Assembly seats in March.

The schedule for the 27 remaining NA locations will be released next week.

No elections will be possible after March until the NA completes its term.

ISLAMABAD: With the schedule for the remaining 27 NA seats to be released next week, all the pending elections to the National Assembly seats will be held in March. The survey will take place at these locations in the last week of March. With this, all seats vacated by resignations of PTI members would be filled through by-polls.

The Election Commission first announced its plan to hold elections for 33 seats and last week released its new plan for 31 more seats. From April until the end of the term of office of the NA in the third week of August this year, no elections will be possible.

Highly placed sources in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) told The News here on Saturday that the commission has intensified its efforts in preparation for the general elections in October/November this year. The sources said on condition of anonymity that the ECP has nothing to do with the date of the provincial assembly elections when the incumbent government dissolves them. The commission could suggest some dates in this regard, but this is not binding on the provincial governors, who are the sole arbiters of the date.

The commission will be ready to hold elections to the dissolved provincial assemblies, but certain technical and constitutional requirements need to be considered before taking a decision, sources said.

In its regular meeting, the ECP decided to hold a series of consultations and discussions on the upcoming polls and subsequent general elections. The commission has convened a high-level meeting on Tuesday (February 7) to be attended by the chief secretaries and IGs of police Punjab and KPK. On this occasion, they will brief the commission on the provincial assembly elections, National Assembly by-elections, law and order situation and other issues in their respective jurisdictions.

The next ECP meeting on this issue will be held on February 9 (Thursday) at the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) grounds.

It will discuss all aspects of peaceful provincial assembly elections, code of ethics and other constitutional and legal issues and get their feedback to ensure transparent elections, sources said. Briefing the commission, Omar Hameed Khan, Secretary, ECP, gave details of the arrangements for the provincial assembly elections of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and by-elections to 86 constituencies of the National Assembly.

He told the meeting that the registrars of Lahore High Court and Peshawar High Court have been asked to provide the services of judicial officers for the upcoming elections. Election polls for the 31 constituencies of the National Assembly will be held on March 19. Earlier elections for 33 seats in the National Assembly were announced for March 16.