Census report delay and elections

When the national census was held earlier this year, it was expected that the 2018 general elections would be reflective of the new demographic realities. That is not to be. The Chief Statistician informed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) at a recent meeting that although the provisional data could be shared with it by the end of July, the final census report would not be ready before April 2018, while the elections are to be held sometime in July or August. To which Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) pointed out that as per legal requirements fresh delimitation process - that can take about seven months - cannot be initiated until the final census report is published. That means there will be little time left for the ECP to carry out the necessary delimitation work. In fact, CEC has already declared that "we will be under compulsion to hold the 2018 general elections on the basis of existing boundaries."
The political parties are themselves to blame for this unsavoury situation. Even when it was decided to hold census after a gap of 19 long years, it kept getting delayed. Almost all of them had wanted the exercise to be supervised by the soldiers -due to mutual distrust - who were unavailable being busy fighting the terrorists. Although there is a similar distrust of one another for the conduct of fair and free elections, they have shown no sense of urgency, either, to finalise the much talked about electoral reforms. It was back in 2014 when in the wake of allegations of massive rigging the National Assembly formed an electoral reforms committee, deciding to complete the task within 90 days. Nearly three years on, there is no progress. The CEC has expressed the regret that the government appears to be non-serious about finalising a new election law. Even more baffling is the attitude of the PTI, which has been making the loudest protests against the existing electoral system. It stays focused more on the Panama Papers case than the challenges ahead. With the elections due in a year's time, there is no time to be lost. The proposed reforms could require a constitutional amendment, which may not be an easy sailing. Since the ECP needs time to make necessary arrangements in the light of the new law, the NA committee must get its act together and complete its reform agenda as soon as possible.
A troubling aspect of the present census is also its failure to obtain an analytical picture of the population statistics. It has been restricted to a mere head and household count. What has remained ignored from inclusion in it is collection of such vital information as inter-provincial population transfers as well as influx of Afghans in different parts of the country, especially in the two smaller provinces where worried politicians have been expressing the concern it would lead to a distorted depiction of their populations. These are serious and valid issues and need to be addressed one way or another.