Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Saturday said the government had decided not to notify the latest census and that upcoming elections would be held on the basis of the 2017 census, a private TV channel reported. “The CCI (Council of Common Interests) has to complete its term. If this [new] census is not notified by then, the elections will be [held] on the basis of the previous census and delimitation.
“And the government has decided it will not notify this [new census] and when the assemblies will dissolve after completing their terms, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will be bound to conduct elections on the basis of the previous census,” he said while speaking to a private TV channel. Asked if he meant the CCI would not notify the new census, Sanaullah said, the government would not be notifying the census as it had “issues”. Moreover, various stakeholders also had concerns over it, he added. Pressed further regarding the reservations of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, an ally of the government in the Centre, about the 2017 census, Sanaullah said the party was unsatisfied with the new digital census as well. “They don’t [even] accept this new census.” He further said that there were also complaints about the new census in Balochistan as well.
Stressing that there should be consensus on census results, he said it was important that all issues were sorted out and any decision in haste on the census could lead to a “controversial situation” in the country.
