In a welcoming development, the draft bill for the delimitation of constituencies has been agreed upon by all the parliamentary parties. National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq said after addressing the media after a meeting of political parties that all parties are united with regards to the bill and will vote for in the NA when it is tabled. According to the new delimitation, Punjab’s seat share will decrease by nine seats, while Islamabad will get one more seat, KPK will get five and Balochistan will be given three more. NA seats for FATA and Sindh will remain unchanged. In response to a question, Sadiq said a total of 780,000 people will be represented on one NA seat after the readjustment. He said the Election Commission of Pakistan will now begin the process of delimitation according to the latest population census in light of General Elections 2018.
The meeting was attended by leaders of major political parties, including Khursheed Shah of Pakistan Peoples Party and Shah Mehmood Qureshi of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
It was decided in the meeting that nine NA seats from Punjab, out of which seven are general and two are reserved for women, will be decreased. However, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will witness an increase of five seats, of which four will be general seats and one reserved for women candidates.
Balochistan will see an increase of three national assembly seats, two general and one for women. Sindh and Fata will not see any changes in the number of seats, while Islamabad Capital Territory would have an increase of one seat in the NA.
Once the bill is passed by the NA, it would be sent to the Senate for approval.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Vice President Shah Mehmood said that the PTI has decided in the consultative meeting that the general elections need to be held on time.
Opposition Leader Khursheed Shah said that though his party still has reservations over the census results, the delimitation is a separate subject.
He said that the new delimitation will not benefit or disadvantage anyone, adding that the by-elections will be held under the new delimitations as well.
He asked Government to take Senate in confidence on delimitation. The re-composition of the National Assembly was necessary after the census 2017. Opposition parties have raised reservations on the result of the 6th census and it was looking that consensus of delimitation bill will be difficult. It is good that the government has achieved consensus on new delimitation bill because it was very vital for the continuation of democratic process. Now Pakistan is moving towards the post-census process by putting forth the requisite legislation. Unanimous approval of the bill will send positive message about political maturity of political parties.
