ISLAMABAD: After the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) refused to take part in the proceedings of the special parliamentary committee on delimitation of constituencies on Wednesday, three other mainstream parties opposed the report of the working group, which called for an amendment to the Constitution to allow the upcoming general elections to be held according to the existing demarcation of constituencies.

A meeting of the committee was held with Deputy Speaker of National Assembly Murtaza Javed Abbasi in the chair. During the meeting the report of the committee’s working group led by Privatisation Minister Daniyal Aziz was discussed at length.

The working group had made three broad demands in its report. The first is introduction of a constitutional amendment do away with the requirement of holding the general elections according to the provincial census results. This would result in the polls being conducted according to the older demarcation of constituencies.

PTI, PPP have already refused to take part in proceedings of committee on delimitation of constituencies

The second is definition of the principles of delimitation in legislation, rather than rules — taking away the power of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to define and interpret rules itself. The third recommendation of the report was to launch an inquiry into the delimitation process to investigate the ‘gross negligence’ of the delimitation committee.

Representatives of Jamiat Ulema-i- Islam (JUI-F), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) opposed the recommendations of the report. The PTI and the PPP have already disagreed with the working group. Both parties have also argued that there is no requirement for a majority in the house to get a bill passed and pointed out that the ECP is examining the objections against delimitation right now, and it should be allowed to carry on with its mandate.

PTI dissident Siraj Muhammad surprised many in the meeting by announcing that there was no harm in postponing the elections, if necessary, to correct the errors in delimitation.

S. Iqbal Qadri of the MQM said that a party’s appeal to the Supreme Court on an objection concerning delimitation —which had been rejected by the ECP — should be disposed of by the court within 30 days and that the apex court should constitute three-member benches in all provinces to deal with appeals.

Chairman of the committee Murtaza Javed Abbasi — criticising a letter written to the committee by the ECP conveying its decision not to attend its meetings — said that legislation was the parliament’s job and could in no way be termed as ‘interference’. He alleged that gross irregularities had been committed in the delimitation process, which were meant to benefit certain elements within the political system. He hinted that the parliament might amend the Election Act and said that the ECP would do well to reclaim its credibility among political parties.

Speaking with reporters after the meeting, the head of the committee’s working group Daniyal Aziz said that the ECP must name the members of the delimitation committee so that they could be investigated for negligence.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2018