FOUR days before it dissolved the National Assembly on August 9, 2023, the coalition Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government convened the Council of Common Interests to approve the results of the 2023 digital census.

The move effectively shut the door on the prospects of elections within the 90-day constitutional limit, as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had to conduct fresh delimitation of constituencies, in line with the stipulation laid down in Article 51(5) of the Constitution, which mandates seat allocation `in accordance with the last preceding census officially published`.

While delimitation of constituencies is a fairly routine exercise, it was different this time around for one reason: there was no elected government in power during the process. In the absence of a National Assembly, thetotal number of seats couldn`t be modified, as this requires a constitutional amendment.

So even though the population increased from 207.7 million in 2017 to 241.5m in 2023, the number of generalseats in the National Assembly had to remain the same 266 as provided under Article 51(3) of the Constitution.

A modified Punjab Despite the population increase ofover 33m between the two censuses, the ECP was bound to keep the number of seats fixed. So, it had no other option but to increase the province-wise quota of population for each seat. This resulted in the merger of various districts which previously had separate seats.

Being the province with the largest share of seats, Punjab saw the most changes in the delimitation of its constituencies.

According to journalist Majid Nizami, who studies political trends, almost all constituencies in Lahore have changed drastically, and the situation is the same in all towns, divisional headquarters and district headquarters ofthe province.

`The first and integral part of prepoll rigging is delimitation. You move a UC from one constituency to another to break a candidate`s stronghold. This has happened in Punjab and Lahore, Mr Nizami says.

Interestingly, Hafizabad district had a population of1,319,909, accordingto the 2023 census, making it eligible for a separate NA seat. Despite the fact that Hafizabad had a separate seat in 2018, in the preliminary delimitation for 2023, the district was split into two constituencies: NA-67 Hafizabad and NA-81 Gujranwala-cum-Hafizabad.

After various objections were filed, the delimitation for NA-81 was modified to Gujranwala-V and the entire Hafizabad district was included in NA-67.

The southern region of Punjab saw the most significant realignment in delimitation as compared to previous elections. Muzaffargarh district lost two seats to the newly carved Kot Addu district, which had a population of 1,486,758. Similarly, the new Taunsa district ate into the share of D.G. Khan, bringing down its total seats from four to three.

The Fata merger After fresh delimitation in KP, the seats of the former tribal areas of Bajaur, Khyber, and Kurram have been reduced from two to one each.

The single seat of the ex-Orakzai agency has been merged with Hangu. The lone seat of North Waziristan has been retained and the two in South Waziristan have been merged to form NA-42 South Waziristan Upper-cum-South Waziristan Lower.

In KP, there have been concerns over delimitation in the major centres, especially for provincial assembly seats.

According to Lehaz Ali, aPeshawar-based journalist who has extensively covered politics in KP, areas in Charsadda where Aftab Sherpao and his son, Sikandar Sherpao, had a majority have been lumped into one constituency.

In Nowshera, constituencies for the KP Assembly have been created in line with the preferences of Pervez Khattak, he notes.

In Peshawar and its sur-rounding areas, the PTI won the previous elections comprehensively and `wiped out the traditional political parties`, Mr Ali says, adding that in light of this, one provincial assembly seat was subtracted from Peshawar`s tally and reallocated to Shangla, apparently to `benefit someone else`.

Balochistan `underprivileged and underrepresented` In the province with the largest and most sprawling constituencies, the delimitation of seats reflects its glaring underrepresentation in the NA. In 2018, Balochistan had the lowest population among all four provinces, and so was its quota of 771,546 people to each NA seat.

In 2023, the province still had the lowest population among all four provinces, but its per seat quota of 930,900 has now become one of the highest.

Akbar Notezai, who has extensively reported on the province`s politics, said gerrymandering in Balochistan had been going on for decades, with underrepresentation being a long-standing grievance of the province`spolitical leaders.

Mr Notezai pointed out that Balochistan`s population has increased, but it hasn`t resulted in a proportionate increase in seats, resulting in the merger of several districts to reach the population quota for each constituency.

An example of this merger is NA-260 Chagai-cum-Nushkicum-Kharan-cum-Washuk. Its estimated area is 98,596 sq km, as per the 2017 census. For comparison, all south Punjab districts, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Rahim Yar Khan, Multan, Lodhran, Khanewal, Vehari, Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur and Layyah have a combined area of 99,577 sq km.The three seats of Quetta have also undergone a significant modification. The city centre has been split into two constituencies, as compared to only one in 2018.

Similarly, NA-264 of 2018, which started from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to the city`s northern outskirts, has been extended further east up to the Kacchi district.

This constituency, NA-262, cir-cles from three sides, the other two constituencies NA-263 and NA-264 covering Quetta`s urban area.

`Something for everyone` in Karachi In Sindh, the delimitation in 2023 was largely along the same lines as the previous exercise. One notable change took place in the Sanghar district, which lost one seat that ended up being added to Karachi`s tally, taking the number of its constituencies to 22.

Abdul Jabbar Nasir, a veteran journalist with expertise on Karachi`s electoral dynamics, ruled out any planned gerrymandering, but was quick topoint out that in some constituencies, delimitation hadn`t been done in line with the principle of homogeneity, which gave the impression that some `attempts at facilitating a particular party` have been made.

He pointed out some areas in Malir, where the final delimitation varied from the preliminary one, where the PPP was clearly `benefittingfrom these changes`.

Similarly, the delimitation of NA-237 in District East gives the impression that `MQM-Pakistan has been facilitated`.

Another major change in District East took place in the delimitation of 2018`s NA-243, which former prime minister Imran Khan won in the last general election. The constituency extended from Gulzar-i-Hijri to Jinnah International Airport. In 2023, the constituency was re-numbered to NA-236 and its boundary extended up to PAF Faisal Airbase.

`It is difficult to say that constituencies in Karachi overwhelmingly favour oneparty, but it is true that the technical principles of delimitation weren`t followed in many areas,` Mr Nasir concluded.

A detailed version of this article can be accessed on Dawn.com Credits: Data compiled by DawnGIS Layouts and map design by Farooq Dawood and Irfan Khan FOUR days before it dissolved the National Assembly on August 9, 2023, the coalition Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government convened the Council of Common Interests to approve the results of the 2023 digital census.

The move effectively shut the door on the prospects of elections within the 90-day constitutional limit, as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had to conduct fresh delimitation of constituencies, in line with the stipulation laid down in Article 51(5) of the Constitution, which mandates seat allocation `in accordance with the last preceding census officially published`.

While delimitation of constituencies is a fairly routine exercise, it was different this time around for one reason: there was no elected government in power during the process. In the absence of a National Assembly, thetotal number of seats couldn`t be modified, as this requires a constitutional amendment.

So even though the population increased from 207.7 million in 2017 to 241.5m in 2023, the number of generalseats in the National Assembly had to remain the same 266 as provided under Article 51(3) of the Constitution.

A modified Punjab Despite the population increase ofover 33m between the two censuses, the ECP was bound to keep the number of seats fixed. So, it had no other option but to increase the province-wise quota of population for each seat. This resulted in the merger of various districts which previously had separate seats.

Being the province with the largest share of seats, Punjab saw the most changes in the delimitation of its constituencies.

According to journalist Majid Nizami, who studies political trends, almost all constituencies in Lahore have changed drastically, and the situation is the same in all towns, divisional headquarters and district headquarters ofthe province.

`The first and integral part of prepoll rigging is delimitation. You move a UC from one constituency to another to break a candidate`s stronghold. This has happened in Punjab and Lahore, Mr Nizami says.

Interestingly, Hafizabad district had a population of1,319,909, accordingto the 2023 census, making it eligible for a separate NA seat. Despite the fact that Hafizabad had a separate seat in 2018, in the preliminary delimitation for 2023, the district was split into two constituencies: NA-67 Hafizabad and NA-81 Gujranwala-cum-Hafizabad.

After various objections were filed, the delimitation for NA-81 was modified to Gujranwala-V and the entire Hafizabad district was included in NA-67.

The southern region of Punjab saw the most significant realignment in delimitation as compared to previous elections. Muzaffargarh district lost two seats to the newly carved Kot Addu district, which had a population of 1,486,758. Similarly, the new Taunsa district ate into the share of D.G. Khan, bringing down its total seats from four to three.

The Fata merger After fresh delimitation in KP, the seats of the former tribal areas of Bajaur, Khyber, and Kurram have been reduced from two to one each.

The single seat of the ex-Orakzai agency has been merged with Hangu. The lone seat of North Waziristan has been retained and the two in South Waziristan have been merged to form NA-42 South Waziristan Upper-cum-South Waziristan Lower.

In KP, there have been concerns over delimitation in the major centres, especially for provincial assembly seats.

According to Lehaz Ali, aPeshawar-based journalist who has extensively covered politics in KP, areas in Charsadda where Aftab Sherpao and his son, Sikandar Sherpao, had a majority have been lumped into one constituency.

In Nowshera, constituencies for the KP Assembly have been created in line with the preferences of Pervez Khattak, he notes.

In Peshawar and its sur-rounding areas, the PTI won the previous elections comprehensively and `wiped out the traditional political parties`, Mr Ali says, adding that in light of this, one provincial assembly seat was subtracted from Peshawar`s tally and reallocated to Shangla, apparently to `benefit someone else`.

Balochistan `underprivileged and underrepresented` In the province with the largest and most sprawling constituencies, the delimitation of seats reflects its glaring underrepresentation in the NA. In 2018, Balochistan had the lowest population among all four provinces, and so was its quota of 771,546 people to each NA seat.

In 2023, the province still had the lowest population among all four provinces, but its per seat quota of 930,900 has now become one of the highest.

Akbar Notezai, who has extensively reported on the province`s politics, said gerrymandering in Balochistan had been going on for decades, with underrepresentation being a long-standing grievance of the province`spolitical leaders.

Mr Notezai pointed out that Balochistan`s population has increased, but it hasn`t resulted in a proportionate increase in seats, resulting in the merger of several districts to reach the population quota for each constituency.

An example of this merger is NA-260 Chagai-cum-Nushkicum-Kharan-cum-Washuk. Its estimated area is 98,596 sq km, as per the 2017 census. For comparison, all south Punjab districts, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Rahim Yar Khan, Multan, Lodhran, Khanewal, Vehari, Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur and Layyah have a combined area of 99,577 sq km.The three seats of Quetta have also undergone a significant modification. The city centre has been split into two constituencies, as compared to only one in 2018.

Similarly, NA-264 of 2018, which started from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to the city`s northern outskirts, has been extended further east up to the Kacchi district.

This constituency, NA-262, cir-cles from three sides, the other two constituencies NA-263 and NA-264 covering Quetta`s urban area.

`Something for everyone` in Karachi In Sindh, the delimitation in 2023 was largely along the same lines as the previous exercise. One notable change took place in the Sanghar district, which lost one seat that ended up being added to Karachi`s tally, taking the number of its constituencies to 22.

Abdul Jabbar Nasir, a veteran journalist with expertise on Karachi`s electoral dynamics, ruled out any planned gerrymandering, but was quick topoint out that in some constituencies, delimitation hadn`t been done in line with the principle of homogeneity, which gave the impression that some `attempts at facilitating a particular party` have been made.

He pointed out some areas in Malir, where the final delimitation varied from the preliminary one, where the PPP was clearly `benefittingfrom these changes`.

Similarly, the delimitation of NA-237 in District East gives the impression that `MQM-Pakistan has been facilitated`.

Another major change in District East took place in the delimitation of 2018`s NA-243, which former prime minister Imran Khan won in the last general election. The constituency extended from Gulzar-i-Hijri to Jinnah International Airport. In 2023, the constituency was re-numbered to NA-236 and its boundary extended up to PAF Faisal Airbase.

`It is difficult to say that constituencies in Karachi overwhelmingly favour oneparty, but it is true that the technical principles of delimitation weren`t followed in many areas,` Mr Nasir concluded.

A detailed version of this article can be accessed on Dawn.com Credits: Data compiled by DawnGIS Layouts and map design by Farooq Dawood and Irfan Khan