Constitutional amendment draft for constituencies finalized: NA Speaker

ISLAMABAD: Leaders of parliamentary parties have finalized a draft of constitutional amendment bill for delimitation of constituencies on the basis of the provisional results of census 2017, said NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on Wednesday.

The second round of the meeting of parliamentary heads held today at the Parliament House to deliberate on legislation for fresh delimitation on the basis of recently-held population census.

After the meeting, the speaker told media that all party heads have agreed upon a draft bill for fresh delimitation, which will soon be presented to the National Assembly for approval.

A day earlier, NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq had said that the leaders of the parliamentary parties have agreed to retain the same strength of 272 members in the National Assembly, with a little change in allocation of seats to provinces on the basis of provisional results of the population census.

The Punjab will lose seven general and two reserved seats according to the fresh census figures. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will get five more seats of the National Assembly (four general and one reserved seat), while Balochistan will get three more parliament seats (two general and one reserved seat). Whereas, Islamabad will get one more general seat.

However, the number of seats allocated to Sindh and Fata will remain unchanged.

The Speaker had further said that legislation for delimitation would be made in the NA and subsequently the bill will be moved in the Senate.