ISLAMABAD: In a significant breakthrough on Friday, the country’s mainstream parliamentary parties arrived at a consensus on the issue of delimitation of electoral constituencies under the provisional results of the population census conducted earlier this year, averting the threat of a delay in holding the upcoming general elections in mid-2018.

This was decided at a multi-party meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, in which the main parliamentary parties were represented by their senators.

The participants decided that the crucial 24th Constitutional Amendment Bill 2017, which seeks fresh delimitation of electoral constituencies, will be introduced in the Senate on Dec 19, and will be passed the same day. The bill was passed by the National Assembly on Nov 16.

The government agreed to the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) demand for a third-party re-audit of five per cent blocks of the census.

The issue of the much demanded merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province was on the agenda of the meeting, but was not taken up. The prime minister announced that he would hold a separate meeting on that with parliamentary leaders in the National Assembly.

The multi-party meeting was attended by Pakistan Peoples Party leaders Aitzaz Ahsan and Taj Haider, Tahir Mashhadi of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Hasil Bizenjo of the National Party (NP), Usman Kakar of the Pakistan Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), Israrullah Zehri of the Balochistan National Party-Awami (BNP-A), Dr Jamaldini of the BNP-Mengal (BNPM), Ilyas Bilour of the Awami National Party (ANP), Mushahid Hussain Syed of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q), Hidayat Ullah from Fata and Raja Zafarul Haq, Mushahid Ullah Khan and Abdul Qadir Baloch of the ruling PML-Nawaz.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Aitzaz Ahsan, leader of the opposition in the Senate, said all parties had agreed that they would vote for the bill on Dec 19 in the Senate. He, however, appeared sceptical of whether the government would deliver its end of the bargain, and said: “Hope the government sticks to its stance till Dec 19.” He said that the Fata reforms bill had been on the agenda of the meeting but it did not come under discussion. Mr Ahsan added that during consultations at the meeting, representatives of the PPP, the PkMAP, the MQM and Senator Hidayat Ullah from Fata had expressed reservations on the population census 2017.

However, the government has accepted the PPP’s demand of holding a re-audit of 5pc blocks of the census. “It has been agreed that the re-audit will be conducted within 30 days,” he said, adding that the re-audit would be conducted by demographers and PM Abbasi will monitor it himself.

A committee comprising Senators Taj Haider, Hasil Bizenjo, Mushahid Hussain Syed and Israrullah Zehri was constituted for the purposes of the re-audit. “Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules will not be applied to the re-audit process,” he added.

Senator Raja Zafarul Haq, leader of the house in the Senate, said the prime minister would hold a separate meeting on the issue with the parliamentary leaders in the lower house.

Senator Mushahid Ullah said that the election would be held on time and there was no possibility of a delay in this regard. He said all parties had agreed to vote for the bill on Dec 19 as the details of the re-audit had been decided at the consultation.

Earlier, the PPP had announced that it would not support the bill unless its demand regarding the modus operandi for a third-party audit of the 5pc census blocks was accepted.

Soon after passage of the bill in the National Assembly last month, the government had convened a special session of the opposition-dominated Senate that lasted for 11 days. The bill was placed thrice on the agenda of the session but the required quorum of 69 senators was not met all three times so the bill was not tabled. At the ongoing session of the upper house, the bill could not be tabled because of the PPP’s strategy of keeping its members away from the proceedings.

Interestingly enough, it is not only the PPP, but a majority of lawmakers from the MQM and the PTI had stayed away from the proceedings.

The PPP has 25 senators, excluding Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani, in the upper house. The composition of the house shows that the bill could be passed from the Senate even without the PPP’s support if all other parties supported the bill and ensured their members were present. Article 51(5) of the Constitution provides that the seats in the National Assembly will be allocated to each province, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the federal capital on the basis of population in accordance with the last preceding census officially published.

There is a consensus among political parties that the provisional results of the census conducted this year will be used in deciding the allocation of National Assembly seats, without changing the existing total number of general seats (272) or women’s seats (60), and retaining the share of Fata (12).

According to the proposed reallocation, the seats will increase for Balochistan (2 general seats + l woman seat), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (4+l) and federal capital (l+0), while seats for Punjab will decrease (-7 and -2). The number of seats for Sindh will remain the same.

Earlier, the Council of Common Interests (CCI) held at a meeting on Nov 13 and approved the publication of provisional results of the census for purposes of Article 51(5) as provided in the bill. The CCI had also decided that a third-party validation would be carried out in 1pc census blocks. The proportion of census blocks where the re-verification exercise will be carried out was changed to 5pc on the opposition’s demand when the bill was passed by the National Assembly.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2017