Elections on census 2017 unacceptable: BAP

QUETTA: Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) has shown reservations about holding elections on the census 2017, ARY News reported.

As per details, Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Agha Hasan Baloch said that BAP demands to hold elections on the new census.

He said that if the election are held based on the old census it will be unacceptable to BAP as the population of Balochistan has increased in the new census.

Earlier, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah asserted that the next general elections, scheduled to be held in 2023, will be based on the last census carried out in 2017.

He said that the government decided not to notify the latest census and the upcoming elections would be held based on the 2017 census.

Rana Sanaullah noted that Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) – an ally of the government in the Centre – was unsatisfied with the new digital census as well. “They don’t even accept this new census,” he added.

Separately, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said that the general elections would possibly be held on old census data. Iqbal was of the view that delimitations are still pending after the new population census. “If elections are held in October, then it will be conducted on old census data.”