Pakistan: Elections may be delayed due to 'constitutional requirements,' say ministers

Islamabad [Pakistan], August 8 : The next general elections in Pakistan might get delayed, according to Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, reported Dawn. 
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif commented that the elections would be held on the basis of the latest census. However, some of the ruling parties, including the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) opposed conducting the polls under fresh census. Moreover, the Council of Common Interest (CII) approved the results of the 2023 digital census on Saturday. 
The CCI's approval for the census made it certain that general elections may not be held this year due to the compulsory need for fresh delimitations. Following that, a day after, the federal government transferred the responsibility of conducting polls to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) within the next three months, according to Dawn. 
Moreover, the government has announced that the national assembly will be dissolved on August 9, after which, elections should be held within 90 days of the end of the assemblies' tenure. 
In the past, the ECP, however, stated that conducting polls on fresh delimitation was not possible and that the exercise would require four to six months. But, the commission is likely to decide the time frame for fresh delimitation of constituencies later today. 
Last night, in an interview with CNN's Becky Anderson, Defence Minister said that elections were 'due in November', reported Dawn. 
He further emphasized that the National Assembly was set to be dissolved by Wednesday evening, under the Constitution polls would be held within 90 days.
“Ninety days in the deadline. One cannot go beyond 90 days. But under some conditions, the election commission has the power to delay it, because of some election problem or census problem or electoral role problem, for a month or two but not beyond that,” Asif said.
According to Dawn, when asked if the approval of the 2023 census would result in an election delay, Asif said, “I cannot speculate at the moment but it is a possibility. I won’t rule that out.”
Moreover, Anderson highlighted that the approval of the census came the same day when former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested in a graft case and wondered if the two cases were connected. 
To which, Asif said, "No, they’re not at all connected. The census controversy was going on for the last many, many months. And we had to create a consensus between all the provinces of Pakistan so that the results are accepted by all the provinces."
“The delay was because of this controversy, Otherwise, the result of the census has absolutely no connection with Imran Khan’s conviction,” he added.
Although, in the end, Asif reiterated that elections will be held in November. “I do believe that elections will be held in November. But you asked me if there is a possibility of delay, there is a possibility of a delay but not more than a couple of months on technical grounds, and no ulterior motive in that." 
Moreover, when asked if 2023 was the year when elections would be held, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, while speaking on the Geo News programme, said that 2023 was not the election year. 
He added that under the constitution, another general election could not be held on the 2017 census as they had been accepted 'provisionally for a single time.' 
Sanaullah pointed out that it was required by the Constitution to carry out a delimitation process after a census was notified. “The caretaker government, while fulfilling this constitutional requirement, will carry out the delimitation process," he said. 
He said that the process takes around 120 days so there is nothing like the elections will be delayed by 'many months'. 
"As soon as this constitutional requirement of delimitation is completed, then after that, God-willing, elections will be held,” he said.
The minister added that under the Constitution, two elections could not be held on the results of the 2017 census, adding that the previous census was approved “provisionally”, reported Dawn. 
“According to the Constitution, if the census has been notified, delimitation is necessary after that. So on this basis, delimitation is to be conducted,” Sanaullah said.
“So these are constitutional requirements, which are being implemented according to the Constitution. It is not the case that the 90-day [limit] has gone to 120 days without any reason,” he said.