ISLAMABAD -UNS: The Council of Common Interests (CCI) “unanimously” approved the results of the 2023 digital census on Saturday, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), signifying that a delay in the general elections slated to take place later this year was almost certain now.
The government has announced that assemblies will be dissolved on August 9, following which elections should be held within 90 days of the end of the assemblies’ tenure.
But Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said during an interview earlier this week that elections would be held on the basis of the latest census, while the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has already expressed its inability to hold general polls on the basis of the new population count within the stipulated time as it will have to conduct a fresh delimitation of constituencies in this case.
Meanwhile, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM) and PPP — two of the government’s allies in the Centre — had expressed reservations about the new census. Yesterday, PPP senators in the upper house of Parliament also termed the decision to hold the elections on the basis of the new census a tactic to delay the polls.
However, the PMO statement said the chief ministers of all four provinces and representatives of all political parties were in agreement on the new census results at the CCI’s 50th meeting today, which was chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Law minister sees a delay of 2-2.5 months at most in polls
Earlier, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar also told Geo News that the new census results were “unanimously” approved at the CCI meeting.
When asked about a delay in the elections, he defended the PML-N-led government’s decision by citing Article 51 of the Constitution, which seats that National Assembly (NA) seats should be allocated to administrative units “on the basis of population in accordance with the last preceding census officially published”.
Tarar also referred to a 2021 CCI decision to hold the next elections on the basis of the 2023 census as “provinces had reservations about the old (2017) census”.
