Ahsan Iqbal: Impossible to conduct elections on new digital census. Ahsan Iqbal, the federal minister for planning and development, stated that elections can only held within the allotted time if they are based on the 2017 census.
The minister’s comments came when he questioned on the Geo News program “Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath” about the legal issues brought on by the delay in the notification of the digital census, which ended on May 15.
According to the preliminary census results made public by the government, there were 250 million people in the country. According to Article 51 of the Constitution, seats in the National Assembly must distributed based on population, using the most recent official census.
Therefore, even if the Council of Common Interests (CCI) notifies the results, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will not have enough time to complete the delimitation process, which takes at least 4 months.
Second, the coalition government lacks the two-thirds support necessary in the NA to pass the constitutional amendment that would increase the number of legislative seats.
Ahsan Iqbal explained to the anchorperson that the census results expected to announced by April 30 in accordance with the schedule.
The minister add that because of the errors found during the enumeration process, the provinces repeatedly asked for the final date to postponed.
The committee of demographers advised that areas with undercounts or overcounts investigated with the aid of SUPARCO because the final census showed an abnormal increase in population in some areas. The results to real because they presented in CCI.
Even if the census completed right away, according to Ahsan Iqbal, it not possible to conduct it before July 30.
The federal minister said that after the new census, the process of delimitation remains, and the ECP has to make the final decision on the election date. Previously, the minister rejected elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, claiming the CCI had decided to hold elections on the fresh census.
It not possible to release the census results in accordance with the new election schedule, so if elections held, they must conducted on the basis of the previous census.
Ahsan Iqbal: Govt committed to hold next elections on time
According to the minister, a two-thirds majority needed to amend the constitution, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has stated that the government will transfer power to the caretaker setup once its term is over.
He also opposed the polls’ postponement, arguing that if the uncertainty persisted, the nation might experience a new economic crisis.