General elections to be held in October 2023: Ahsan Iqbal

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Minister for Planning Development & Special Initiatives, Professor Ahsan Iqbal has reiterated, that the next general elections would be held in October 2023, based on the 7th Digital Population and Housing Census 2022.

Addressing digital media influencers on Tuesday, Ahsan said, that the recent floods have devastated two provinces of the country hence elections are not possible in the near future. “What message will go to the flood-affected people if elections are announced before the completion of the incumbent government’s term,” said the minister, while referring to the demand of ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The minister further added that the last general elections were held on the basis of on an old census and Sindh had conditionally agreed to hold the next election only if a fresh digital census was conducted before hand. Therefore, he said that the government would not take any step, which makes the whole elections ‘controversial’.

In April 2023, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) will formally handover the digital census to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and subsequently the ECP would take around four months for the delimitation, elaborated Ahsan, while reiterating that Imran Khan had also endorsed the Council of Common Interest CII’s decision to hold the next elections based on fresh digital census.

While referring to a fabricated story of the Daily Mail against Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Ahsan said the premier immediately took action against the newspaper as a result, they tendered an apology.

Furthermore, the minister said that eversince the current government came into power, several projects have been started, which were stopped by the previous government, while no progress were made in the CPEC projects.

Ahsan said “the incumbent government has restarted the dredging for Gwadar International Airport, which was stopped by the previous government. Similarly, work on two transmission lines for Gwadar has been resumed and it shall be functional in January 2023.”

While referring to the Islamabad Metro Bus Project, the minister said that the previous government deliberately delayed the project. Ahsan stressed that that the global recession has adversely affected the development countries and –Pakistan is now facing its negative impact after Covid-19. concluded.