PML-N moves bill, seeking Bahawalpur, South Punjab provinces

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Monday submitted a constitutional amendment bill in the National Assembly for the creation of Bahawalpur and South Punjab provinces. “If the government is serious in making Bahawalpur and South Punjab provinces, the PML-N will support them unconditionally,” Ahsan Iqbal said during a news conference. The PML-N lawmaker said he was fearful that the Pakistan Tekreen-e-Insaf (PTI) government would take a U-turn on the formation of new provinces. The PTI as part of its campaigning had pledged the formation of a new province in southern Punjab. According to the bill, the province of Bahawalpur will comprise the existing administrative division of Bahawalpur. The South Punjab province will comprise existing administrative divisions of Dera Ghazi Khan and Multan. After the formation of the new provinces, these divisions would be excluded from Punjab. Total National Assembly seats for Bahawalpur province would be 18 (15 general and 3 women), while South Punjab would have 38 (31 general and 7 women) seats. Further, if the bill is passed Bahawalpur province will have 39 provincial assembly seats and South Punjab 80.