Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader and former interior minister Rana Sanaullah has said that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is opposed to the new delimitations based on the 2023 census out of concern that it may lose some seats due to the anticipated rise in Karachi seats.
While talking to Geo News, he said that holding general elections more than 90 days late would not affect the results.
He said that the new census had received unanimous approval from the Council of Common Interests (CCI), which also included PPP leaders.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) declared on August 17 that the elections couldn't be held in three months because new delimitations would be necessary following the notification of the census of 2023, as agreed by the CCI.
"Everyone in the country agrees that this census is important. A constitutional imperative is a new delimitation," he added.
He said that everyone opposed the 2017 census, but because elections were approaching, a one-time "amendment" was devised to run elections on that specific number.
He emphasized that it would be unlawful to run elections based on a "tainted census of 2017". So it wouldn't be a problem to delay the polls by an additional 80 or 90 days, he added.
In opposition to the PML-N's viewpoint, PPP Vice President Senator Sherry Rehman encouraged the ECP to properly declare the date of the general elections in accordance with the requirements of Article 224 of the Constitution.
"Our Constitution binds the Election Commission of Pakistan to conduct general elections within 90 days of the dissolution of the National Assembly; however, there is no constitutional requirement for conducting delimitation," Rehman said, requesting that the ECP announce the election date in order to uphold the constitutional requirement.