The government has finally reached an understanding with the parliamentary leaders of opposition parties in the Senate for the passage of stalled bill on delimitation of constituencies on the basis of preliminary results of recently conducted population census. Soon after returning from London Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi held a meeting with the parliamentary leaders of the opposition parties to pave way for timely general election in 2018.
The government agreed to the opposition parties' proposal of post-enumeration survey in 5 percent blocks across the country and in return opposition parties agreed to pass the stalled bill from the Senate on delimitation of constituencies on December 19, 2017. Talking to Business Recorder, Senator Taj Haider of Pakistan Peoples Party stated, "The government has accepted our proposal about the methodology to carry out post-enumeration survey."
He said a three- member demographic commission will be formed to carry out post-enumeration survey in 5 percent blocks across the country under the oversight of a parliamentary committee. "The government has given us a word to complete the entire process from random selection of blocks sample to finalization of report within one month," he said. "We have also proposed that the exercise should be carried out on 'holidays' to ensure that no one is missed from the count, he said while adding that a parliamentary committee will handle the complaints, if any, from the recount in 8,000 blocks across the country.
Taj Haider said that the process will be started by the end of this month and the federal government will pay expenses for post-enumeration survey, he added. Leader of the House in Senate, Raja Zafar-ul-Haq and Leader of the Opposition in Senate Aitzaz Ahsan stated that the Prime Minister has assured them that all concerns of the opposition parties regarding delimitations and census will be addressed.
Aitzaz Ahsan said the voting on the constitutional amendment bill will be held on Tuesday and all the parties who had objections on the delimitations will take part in the vote process in the Senate.
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