ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday failed to break the deadlock over fresh delimitation of constituencies as the National Assembly session concluded without members of the House agreeing to pass the crucial constitutional amendment bill seeking the reallocation of seats of the national and provincial assemblies and delimitation of constituencies on the basis of the provisional results of the census conducted earlier this year.
National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had set a deadline of November 10 for passage of legislation in the parliament for delimitation of constituencies and warned that if the lawmakers failed to pass the amendment soon, the ECP will have to seek the Supreme Court’s (SC) assistance in this regard.
On this, opposition leader Khursheed Shah responded that the ECP had every right to take the matter to the apex court. He, however, insisted that the 2018 general elections must take place according to the proposed schedule.The speaker said that he will hold another round of talks with the parliamentary leaders on Tuesday (today) to reach consensus on the constitutional amendment bill for delimitation of constituencies. He also asked Law Minister Zahid Hamid to sit with PTI and the PPP in order to get their recommendations on the proposed amendment.
Commenting on the lack of attendance of lawmakers, Sadiq asked if he should put off parliament’s proceedings for an indefinite period. “It seems that the amendment is being deliberately delayed… [as it will lead to] an increase in the representation of smaller provinces,” he remarked.
He expressed surprise at the lack of consensus, saying that the parliamentary leaders had agreed to increase the number of legislative seats during a meeting held last week.
PPP’s Naveed Qamar said his party had no objection over the constitutional amendment but the issue should be sent to the Council of Common Interests (CCI) and other constitutional forums. He said his party was glad that representation of smaller provinces would increase in parliament.
PTI’s Shireen Mazari said the reservations of parties regarding the amendment should be removed. She said that absence of the members of the treasury benches showed lack of interest in the proceedings of the House.
Ghulam Ahmed Bilour of the Awami National Party (ANP) expressed his dismay that some parties backed out of the agreement reached during meeting with the speaker.
Published in Daily Times, November 7th 2017.
