2023 polls to be held as per new census: Minister
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister Asad Umar has said that the 2023 general elections will be held as per new population census, claiming that the government is consulting all stakeholders on the issue.
He told reporters that the era of Pervez Musharraf was far beter than the rules of the Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in terms of efforts towards beterment of Karachi, but the then army chief could not help in holding a census in the metropolitan.
A countrywide census was finally held in 2017 ater a gap of 19 years but it became controversial as some political parties had reservations over the exercise and its findings, the minister said.
Ater consultation with all the stakeholders, the federal cabinet would send recommendations to the Council of Common Interest (CCI) so that the process of census could be completed in the next 18 months, he said.
The exercise would be followed by delimitation, he said, declaring that the next general elections would be held as per new census.
Umar said that new census would be held with the help of digital technology and geo-tagging, besides taking onboard government institutions, to make the census more transparent.
The minister, however, criticised the Sindh government for dragging its feet over the conduct of local bodies election on the ground of the unresolved census issue.
“The delaying tactics of the provincial government will only help PTI to gain more votes.”
Talking about Karachi’s development, Umar blamed the PPP government for depriving the residents of their basic rights with water shortage and the collapse of public transport infrastructure as well as sewerage, drainage and garbage disposal system. The PPP in its 13-year rule in Sindh had not completed any mega projects for Karachi, he said.
The minister said the port city’s beterment did not fall in the ambit of the federal government, yet Prime Minister Imran Khan gave special atention to Karachi.
He said Rs21 billion had been allocated under the Public Sector Development Project (PSDP) this year for small development schemes in Karachi.
Meanwhile, it was reported that the counting of votes was underway ater polling ended for election on 206 general seats in as many wards of 39 cantonment boards across the country.
No major incidents of violence or disruption were reported in what was the first electoral contest at the grassroots level between arch political rivals since the 2018 general elections, Dawn reported. Polling started at 8am and continued without any break till 5pm.