Elections likely to be held in first week of March: Sanaullah

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has said that the general elections in the country can be delayed until March next year after the Council of Common Interests (CCI) approved the new census, requiring the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to carry out fresh delimitation of constituencies.

While speaking on Geo News’ programme “Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Saath”, Rana Sanaullah said that fresh delimitation is a constitutional requirement.

“The general elections would be held in the third week of February or the first week of March after new delimitations”, he said.

The ECP is bound to hold upcoming general elections — earlier scheduled for October or November this year — on the basis of a fresh digital census after the CCI meeting on Saturday “unanimously” approved the 2023 headcount.

He added that the delimitation process would be completed in December 2023.
Read: JI rejects CCI approval of digital census

As per the Constitution, he said, two general elections cannot be held on the basis of one census.

The Constitution also mandated that fresh delimitation of the constituencies be held after the results of the new census are officially notified, he added.

He also admitted that political parties had raised various objections to the results of the 2023 census.

Speaking about the appointment of caretaker prime minister, Sanaullah said no name has been finalised for the interim chief executive.

Regarding the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief’s arrest, he said that the former premier did not resist his arrest and he was not tortured.

Sanaullah said, “Jails do not have rooms like five-star hotels and the PTI chief has always insisted to keep all inmates in the same category of jails nor they should be allowed to bring meals from their homes.”

The interior minister said that they were also kept in the same jails and prison cells, however, the PTI chief should submit a request to the court or jail superintendent to provide better facilities which will be implemented by the government.

Commenting on the verdict on the Toshakhana case, Sanaullah rejected that the judge did not give the verdict in haste and he provided many chances to the PTI chief’s counsels to provide evidence.

He admitted that the PTI chief could be granted bail in a few days but his case, penalty and disqualification will be retained.

Regarding general elections, he was of the view that the results of next general polls cannot be predicted on the basis of the local government (LG) polls results.