ISLAMABAD: The leaders of parliamentary parties will meet on Tuesday (today) to address the vital issues of delimitation of constituencies and a proposed increase in the number of seats in the national and provincial assemblies.

The meeting was called by National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq after the federal cabinet referred a bill on the subject to parliament on Oct 25.

The draft law, which sought an increase in the number of seats in the national and provincial assemblies, was referred to the legislature after Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who chaired the meeting, observed that parliament was the best forum to decide this issue.

The issue of fresh delimitation on the basis of the recent census also echoed in the Senate on Monday when PPP Senator Sassui Palijo raised the matter on the floor of the house. She was of the view that the smaller provinces had already raised objections on the census results and contended that no fresh delimitation should be conducted on the basis of a controversial census.

Raza Rabbani tells Senate PPP has agreed to proposed govt bill ‘in principle’

To this, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani said that her party could raise its concerns at the meeting of parliamentary party heads on Tuesday. However, he revealed that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had agreed to the proposed bill in principle.

The delimitation of NA and provincial assembly constituencies is mandatory under a fresh census, but the government has decided that it would present the bill mentioning the existing number of seats, i.e. 272 , and that parliament would decide whether to increase that number or not.

A constitutional amendment to this effect will require a two-thirds majority, and the government wants the issue decided through a consensus.

In an earlier meeting, the prime minister had sought suggestions from cabinet members regarding the proposed increase in the number of seats on the basis of the provisional results of the 2017 population census.

At the time, a majority of cabinet members had opposed the idea of increasing the number of general seats in the National Assembly, terming it unnecessary under the present political and economic situation. However, a few cabinet members were of the view that the number of seats should be increased to 300, keeping in view the massive increase in the country’s population.

There are currently 272 general seats and 70 reserved for women and minorities in the 342-member lower house.

The last increase in the number of seats in the national and provincial assemblies was made by retired Gen Pervez Musharraf, ahead of the 2002 general elections. The seats were increased through an amendment to the Constitution, which was later endorsed by parliament as the 17th Constitution Amendment.

Under the law, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is empowered to carry out delimitation of constituencies of the National Assembly, provincial assemblies as well as local bodies. However, fresh legislation would be required to allow the ECP to do so on the basis of census results.

The next elections are scheduled to be held after the current assembly completes its term on May 31. The ECP has already warned the government that time is running out for fresh delimitation ahead of the 2018 elections and that it would not be possible for the commission to carry out the exercise on short notice, given that the final census results are expected to be announced sometime in April next year. The ECP has also warned that legality of the general elections without delimitation could be questioned.

Observers see the cabinet’s decision as an apparent move to settle the controversy generated by the Sindh government and certain political parties over the legitimacy and accuracy of census data.

In August, the Council of Common Interests (CCI) had approved the provisional results of the sixth census, which put the country’s population at 207.7 million, with an annual growth rate of 2.4pc.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2017