Elections in Pakistan to be held on 2023 census, says PM Shehbaz Sharif

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the upcoming elections in Pakistan would be held on the basis of the 2023 digital census, Dawn reported on Tuesday. The premier, whose government is expected to hand over the country’s reins to a caretaker setup this August, shared this during a recorded interview on the Aaj News show ‘Faisla Aap Ka’, which was aired on Tuesday.

“We have to hold the elections on the basis of the new census … When a census has been conducted, the [polls] should be held on its basis unless there is an obstacle that cannot be overcome. But I don’t see [any such hurdle],” Dawn quoted Sharif as saying. He added that a meeting of the Council of Common Interest (CCI) — the body that approves census results — was expected. Sharif further said the census results would be referred to the CCI as soon as they were finalised.

Notably, PM Sharif’s statement is a deviation from that of his ministers’ previous assertions, who said that the upcoming election would be held on the basis of the 2017 census, Dawn reported. When asked about the possibility of any delays in elections, he said that this should not be the case, however, adding that “the ball will be in the election commission’s court”.

This decision, however, prompted a terse response from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), one of the ruling allies in the coalition government in Pakistan that maintains Karachi’s population has been undercounted in the new census, as per Dawn.

Last week, PM Sharif held a meeting with its leaders in Karachi, in an apparent bid to appease the party, where he assured them that any decision on the matter would be made after consultation with all coalition partners, Dawn reported. Earlier, PM Sharif had said that the National Assembly will be dissolved before August 12 with the consultation of the allied parties.

In an interview at a Geo News programme, he said the tenure of the National Assembly will end on August 12 and before that, the assembly will be dissolved. Sharif further said the decision about the caretaker PM will be taken in consultation with the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly and before that he would consult all the allied parties and Pakistan Muslim League(N) Quaid Nawaz Sharif.