The Election Commission of Pakistan has announced that it will complete delimitations by November 30. However, after an emergency meeting, the electoral body stopped short of giving an election date on Friday.

A statement from the ECP said that the delimitations would be completed quicker than the earlier plan so that elections could be organised as soon as possible.

The ECP has reduced the timeframe to complete elimination work, which is considered the first major step towards elections after notification of a fresh census.

The deadline had been set at December 14 in the notification issued by the commission in early August.

With at least 45 days required between delimitations and polling, elections could take place in mid-January.

The ECP convened an emergency meeting of the body on Friday to discuss a possible election date after it completed consultation with political parties.

However, the ECP stopped short of announcing the election schedule and said it would be revealed ‘soon’.

The notification issued by the ECP on August 17 had already made it clear that elections would not be held within the constitutionally mandated 90 days, which are scheduled to end in mid-November.

The National Assembly was dissolved by August 9, a few days before its tenure was to be completed. However, the Council of Common Interests had approved the results of Pakistan’s latest census days earlier, necessitating fresh delimitations.