KARACHI: Interior Minister Rana Sanaul­lah has said the federal government will not notify the 2023 census results and the upcoming elections would be held on the 2017 count.

Speaking on Geo News show ‘Naya Pakistan’ on Saturday, the minister said the government has decided to not notify the results as it had “issues” over it. Moreover, various stakeholders also had concerns over it.

Pressed further regar­ding the reservations of the MQM-Pakistan, an ally of the federal gove­rn­ment, over the results, he said the party was unsatisfied with the digital census as well.

He further said that there were also complaints about the new census in Balochistan.

“[T]he government has decided it will not notify this [new census] and when the assemblies will dissolve after completing their terms, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will be bound to conduct elections on the basis of the previous census,” he said.

Separately, on the consultation process for nominees for the caretaker prime minister, Mr Sanaullah said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was working on the matter, adding that the process could be completed in a week or 10 days.

Earlier on Friday, Federal Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said the ECP will take the final decision on whether polls will be held on the 2017 or 2023 census results.

“The coalition government doesn’t want to extend its tenure and the PM has made a categorical statement in this respect,” Mr Iqbal added.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2023