Delimitation of constituencies: Parliamentary parties fail to make headway

ISLAMABAD: The parliamentary parties' leaders meeting held here on Wednesday failed to make any headway on agreement on the key issue of constitutional amendments to pave the way for delimitation of constituencies on the basis of provisional results of the population census.

The PPP stuck to its position of approval of the CCI for constitutional amendment for paving the way for fresh delimitation of the constituencies on the basis of the provisional results while the government did not see any need of it.

The meeting of the parliamentary party heads was held with Speaker National Assembly (NA) Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in the chair. The fourth such meeting also remained inconclusive.

Talking to newsmen after the meeting, NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said that it was the demand of the PPP to get the CCI approval on the constitutional amendment for delimitation of constituencies before its approval by Parliament. “After the meeting, the government will be consulted if the matter can be taken up in a CCI meeting,” he said. He said that all the parties however, were in agreement that the next elections should not be delayed.

He said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had made it clear that it would go to the Supreme Court for directions but they hoped that since this was in Parliament's domain, it should handle it. To a question with regard  to proposal of Opposition Leader Syed Khursheed Shah for election on the basis of 1998 population census, the Speaker dismissed it saying according to constitutional experts it was not possible under the law and the Constitution.

In reply to a question regarding the reports of heated arguments between Shaikh Rasheed Ahmed and Mehamood Khan Achackzai, the Speaker denied it saying  everyone  presented his point of view in a cordial environment.

While Law Minister Zahid Hamid also stressed the importance of the constitutional amendment,  he said that the government could approve the provisional census results using a simple majority vote, but the constitutional amendment needed two-third majority to pass. Speaking to the media after the meeting, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi said he did not see the need for PPP's reservations to be addressed, as he also did not see the PML-N members to ensure their presence in the NA.

Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rasheed said that the government did not have the numbers for a constitutional amendment. "The meeting of parliamentary leaders has failed," he said.

Later, talking to newsmen at his chamber in the Parliament House, Opposition Leader Syed Khursheed Shah held  the government responsible for failure of the meeting saying that the government is  playing gimmicks on the matter and tried to befool the people as the Supreme Court stated that Nawaz Sharif was fooling the people as well as Parliament. “Now the PML-N government is trying to fool the people as it is shifting the burden of the matter of delimitation of the constituencies to the PPP,” he said. He said the PPP had stood on its demand of elections on the scheduled time.

The opposition leader said the approval of the CCI was needed for the provisional results before giving it a constitutional cover but the government instead of getting approval from the CCI brought it to the Parliament. Khursheed  said the meeting was informed that all the requirements were completged before taking up this issue in the Parliament. “But Sindh chief minister told us that the CCI has yet not approved the provisional results,” he said. He advised the government not to make any further delay in completing the process before giving it the constitutional cover.