Delay in electoral delimitation to affect election schedule: Saad

LAHORE (INP): Federal Minister for Pakistan Railways (PRs), Khawaja Saad Rafique has said delay in electoral delimitations will affect the schedule of the general elections 2018.

Talking to media persons in Jati Umra on Saturday, he said that the election authorities have warned the government that they would not be able to conduct elections on time unless the parliament amends the constitutional clause regarding delimitation of constituencies by the November 10 deadline.

He said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is well aware of agenda of chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan but said that PPPP President Asif Ali Zardari was working on an unknown agenda.

Saad Rafique said that attitude of PPP and PTI was not democratic which is matter of concern. The Minister PRs criticized the holding of public rallies (jalsas) by political parties, saying that the holders of such rallies are in a hurry. “Public rallies should be conducted later. Right now, people should work on electoral reforms which will lead to general elections being held on time,” he added.

Speaking about Nawaz Sharif’s appearance before court, he said that the former prime minister returned to Pakistan despite reservations, since there was no question about not appearing before courts. He said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was being treated unfairly while its leadership was being illegally trapped.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) earlier demanded of the government to amend the Constitution to allow delimitations according to the provisional results of the 2017 census. As of now, delimitations can only be done according to the final results of the census, according to the Constitution. So far, the National Assembly has failed to pass the constitutional amendment bill.