Senate to hold vote on delimitation bill again today

ISLAMABAD: The Senate will proceed on the 24^th Constitutional Amendment Bill 2017 on Monday (today) after it failed to hold voting on the bill in last three sessions due to lack of quorum.

The bill pertains to fresh delimitation of the constituencies in accordance with the provisional results of the latest census for upcoming General Elections in 2018.

The bill was earlier tabled in upper house of the parliament last month but it could not be passed due to lack of quorum.

Subsequently, the voting on the bill was again adjourned due to presence of less than 50 senators in a session on Nov 17. The house of 104 needed a two-thirds majority – 69 senators – to pass the constitutional amendment bill.

Earlier, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had approached Opposition leader in National Assembly Khursheed Shah to convince Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) senators to ensure their presence in the senate session in the last session.

Shah assured PM Abbasi of conveying his message to the top leadership. However, the opposition leader asked the premier to make the request in writing so that the party can have a consultation over it, sources added.

In light of the Constitutional Amendment Bill 2017, Punjab will lose nine seats in the National Assembly while Islamabad will get one, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa five, and Balochistan three more seats.

However, the NA seats for FATA and Sindh will remain unchanged.

The amendments have been made in line with the provisional census results.

Earlier, NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq had said the total number of NA seats will remain unchanged after amendments; however, there would be a change in allocation of seats to the provinces.

Previously on Nov 13, the Council of Common Interests (CCI) approved delimitation of new constituencies on the basis of provisional results of Population Census 2017, paving the way for timely conduct of next general elections.