Pakistan Tehreek-e-Indaf (PTI) central spokesperson Fawad Hussain Chaudhry said the party is ready to dissolve the provincial assembly in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) if other political parties can reach the decision of dissolving all remaining assemblies in a bid to hold early elections.
Speaking to Express News on Sunday, he said the party is not in favour of any delays in holding the general elections. “In fact, we want elections to be held before the scheduled period and for that purpose we won’t even shy away from dissolving the K-P assembly,” he said.
Referring to ongoing deliberations to pass a bill regarding delimitation of constituencies in light of fresh census and subsequent allocation of National Assembly seats, the PTI leader said: “The spirit of democracy lies in elections and not in population census,” adding that delay in elections due to any constitutional amendment will not be accepted at any cost.
Minister hints at elections delay if law not passed for fresh delimitation of constituencies
Commenting on the bill, Fawad stressed the need for further deliberations on the proposed bill at the Council for Common Interests (CCI).
Later, he took to the micro-blogging website, Twitter, saying: “Nothing can delay elections, Art 224 [wi]ll be adhered to amendment or no amendment elections as early as possible are essential.”
However, PTI Deputy Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday said the polls should be conducted on their scheduled time next year, a move cited as contrary to its earlier demand for early general elections.
He said the party had reached this decision after ‘internal discussions’.
PTI backs down on early elections demand, wants them held on time
The final results of the census of 2017 are expected in April next year and the process of delimitation of the constituencies on the basis of the final results may hinder the timely holding of the elections expected in July or August.
Keeping in view the time constraints faced by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), leaders of parliamentary parties in the house had decided in a meeting earlier this week to retain 272 general seats of the NA.
According to the proposed bill, the number of general seats in the lower house will remain 272 with 60 reserved for women. However, Punjab will have nine less seats – seven general and two reserved for women.
Punjab cedes nine seats to keep NA 272-strong
Out of these nine seats, two general and one reserved for women will go to Balochistan and four general and one women seat will be added to the strength of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) will get an additional general seat.
Sindh – with 61 general seats and 14 seats reserved for women – and the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) – with 12 general seats – will have their strengths unchanged. Similarly, 10 minorities-reserved seats would also be maintained, making the total strength of the house 342.
The post PTI ready to dissolve K-P assembly if consensus evolved for early polls: Fawad appeared first on The Express Tribune.
from The Express Tribune http://ift.tt/2y5aHqZ
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