Census data collection deadline extended

ISLAMABAD: After failing to accomplish the ongoing census exercise in partial areas of almost 26 districts across four provinces, the government has extended the deadline for the completion of census data by five days.

Amid rising complaints about the ongoing exercise in certain areas, especially in major metropolitans like Karachi, the government extended the deadline to provide an opportunity to all those who had complained that they were not fully counted during this ongoing exercise.

Now the deadline for the census exercise has been extended from April 10, 2023, to April 15, 2023. If the census exercise could not be accomplished within the envisaged extended deadline, the possibility of holding general elections after the de-limitation exercise cannot be ruled out.

Chief Census Officer Dr. Naeemul Zafar told The News on Monday that he had directed the provincial governments to extend the deadline for accomplishing the enumeration of houses and counting of the population for five days and complete the process by April 15, 2023. The Provincial Census Commissioners have been directed to issue notifications for an extension of the deadline of five days for completion of the census exercise in their respective areas, he said.

“We have accomplished the census exercise in 130 plus districts and asked the provincial governments to ensure partial completion in the remaining districts out of a total of 156 districts all over the country,” Dr Naeem said.

He said that the provincial governments could not accomplish the assigned task because in some areas they had kicked off the exercise with some delays. Now they will have to accelerate the process to accomplish the assigned task within the extended deadline, he maintained.

He said that the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) would take one week to conduct an analysis before forwarding it to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

He said that the approval of the Council of Common Interest (CCI) would be sought for sharing the census results with the ECP, which is supposed to undertake a de-limitation exercise for increasing the number of constituencies in the National Assembly and provincial assemblies for the next general elections.