Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif have both stated that there is a possibility of a delay in holding the next general elections.<\/p>\n
The government has announced that assemblies will be dissolved on August 9, following which elections should be held within 90 days of the end of the assemblies\u2019 tenure.<\/p>\n
However, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on August 1 that elections would be held on the basis of the latest census. Although some of the ruling allies, including the PPP, had opposed holding the polls under the fresh census, the Council of Common Interest (CII) on Saturday had approved the results of the 2023 digital census.<\/p>\n
A day after the CCI ratified the census, making it almost certain that general elections may not be held this year due to the compulsory need for fresh delimitations, the federal government shifted the responsibility of conducting polls to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) within the next three months.<\/p>\n
The ECP had in the recent past declared that conducting polls on fresh delimitation was not possible and that the exercise would require four to six months. The commission is expected to decide the time frame for fresh delimitation of constituencies later today.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Geo News programme \u2018Geo Pakistan\u2019 on Tuesday morning, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that 2023 was not the election year. When asked if 2023 was the year when elections would be held, the minister said, \u201cIt is an absolutely straightforward answer \u2014 no.\u201d<\/p>\n
When one of the hosts commented that the upcoming caretaker setup had \u201cacquired an unconventional significance as the one to get the role might stay for more than three months\u201d, Sanaullah insisted that there was nothing extraordinary about it.<\/p>\n
He went on to reiterate that under the Constitution, another general election could not be held on the 2017 census results as they had been accepted \u201cprovisionally for a single time\u201d.<\/p>\n
Emphasising that it was required by the Constitution to carry out the delimitation process after a census was notified, Sanaullah said, \u201cThe caretaker government, while fulfilling this constitutional requirement, will carry out the delimitation process.\u201d<\/p>\n
The minister noted that the process takes around 120 days so there was nothing about the elections being delayed by \u201cmany months\u201d. \u201cAs soon as this constitutional requirement of delimitation is completed, then after that, God-willing, elections will be held,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Talking about the names under consideration for the role of the caretaker prime minister, Sanaullah said they were all \u201crespected names and discussions were under way\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo name has been locked till now. Even if it is [decided], till today evening or tomorrow \u2026 there are more chances that it will be locked tomorrow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sanaullah had stated the same while speaking on Geo News programme, \u2018Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Saath\u2019 last night. \u201cI cannot predict the future but if 90 days have turned into 120 days, there is a clear constitutional argument present for it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The minister said that under the Constitution, two elections could not be held on the results of the 2017 census, adding that the previous census was approved \u201cprovisionally\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to the Constitution, if the census has been notified, delimitation is necessary after that. So on this basis, delimitation is to be conducted,\u201d Sanaullah said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo these are constitutional requirements, which are being implemented according to the Constitution. It is not the case that the 90-day [limit] has gone to 120 days without any reason,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Khanzada then pointed out that in an earlier statement, Sanaullah had insisted that a new census was not needed.<\/p>\n
To this, the minister replied, \u201cEven today, I say that if this census had not been notified unanimously by national consensus, then the elections that were to be held within 90 days were to be held on the existing delimitation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The PML-N leader said it was a \u201chuge blessing\u201d that all parties concerned had accepted the 2023 census after their concerns had been heard and addressed.<\/p>\n
In an interview with CNN\u2019s Becky Anderson that was aired last night, the defence minister said that elections were \u201cdue in November\u201d.<\/p>\n
He also pointed out that the National Assembly was set to be dissolved by Wednesday (August 9) evening, adding that under the Constitution polls would be held within 90 days.<\/p>\n
\u201cNinety days in the deadline. One cannot go beyond 90 days. But under some conditions, the election commission has the power to delay it, because of some election problem or census problem or electoral role problem, for a month or two but not beyond that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When asked whether the approval of the 2023 census would result in an election delay, Asif said: \u201cI cannot speculate at the moment but it is a possibility. I won\u2019t rule that out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anderson then pointed out that the approval of the census came the same day that PTI chief Imran Khan was arrested in a graft case and wondered if the two developments were connected.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, they\u2019re not at all connected. The census controversy was going on for the last many, many months. And we had to create a consensus between all the provinces of Pakistan so that the results are accepted by all the provinces,\u201d Asif said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe delay was because of this controversy, Otherwise, the result of the census has absolutely no connection with Imran Khan\u2019s conviction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
At the end of his interview, Asif reiterated that elections will be held in November. \u201cI do believe that elections will be held in November. But you asked me if there is a possibility of delay: There is a possibility of a delay but not more than a couple of months on technical grounds, and no ulterior motive in that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif have both stated that there is a possibility of a delay in holding the next general elections. The government has announced that assemblies will be dissolved on August 9, following which elections should be held within 90 days of the end of the assemblies\u2019 tenure. However, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-347849","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national"},"yoast_head":"\n