LAHORE: Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique on Saturday said that the general elections scheduled to take place the next year may face a delay if the law for fresh delimitation of constituencies was not passed.
Talking to media persons in Jati Umra, the minister said that the election authorities have already warned the government that they would not be able to conduct elections on time unless the parliament amends the clause regarding delimitation of constituencies by November 10 deadline.
However, the National Assembly on November 2 failed to pass the constitutional amendment bill. The minister said that his party was aware of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s agenda but Asif Ali Zardari was working on an ‘unknown agenda’. In a clear reference to Imran Khan, Saad Rafique said people who want to hold rallies are in a hurry. “Public rallies can be conducted later … they should work on electoral reforms which will lead to on-time general elections,” he suggested.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has received only five objections/suggestions on provisions of the draft Election Rules 2017 till the last date of submitting the objections/suggestions. According to sources, no mainstream political party has forwarded any objection/suggestion for improving the draft. The ECP had uploaded draft Election Rules 2017 on its website on Oct 2 inviting suggestions/objections from civil society, political parties and general public on any provision of the rules by October 26.
Published in Daily Times, November 5th 2017.
