ISLAMABAD, Feb 18: The Election Commission has raised objections over the allocation of National Assembly seats to provinces by the National Reconstruction Bureau.

Official sources told Dawn that Chief Election Commissioner Irshad Hasan Khan had expressed his dissatisfaction over the allocation of seats done by the NRB.

The dispute has delayed promulgation of a provisional constitutional order (PCO) to provide legal cover to the electoral reforms.

A meeting is being held on Wednesday to sort out the differences and President’s Advisor Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada has been invited to attend it.

The NRB chairman had announced on Jan 16 that National Assembly seats had been increased from 217 to 350, including 60 seats for women.

Sources said that the Election Commission had raised the objection that the allocation of seats was contrary to Article 51(3) of the constitution.

Section 3 of Article 51 says: “The seats in the National Assembly shall be allocated to each province, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and federal capital on the basis of population in accordance with the last preceding census officially published.”

According to the sources, the CEC is of the view that population of Islamabad has registered an unprecedented rise, but it was allocated only one additional seat. Similarly, one more seat was allocated to Fata without any justification as no census was held in the areas. The allocation of seats to the NWFP and Sindh was also not in consonance with the census results.