New census may delay Pakistan polls

ISLAMABAD: A general election in Pakistan due later this year will be based on a new census, a minister said on Saturday, indicating the vote could be delayed and fuelling opposition fears that the government aims to prolong the present caretaker administration. Law minister Azam Nazeer Tarar told Geo News that it could take about four months to complete the census and draw new constituency boundaries.

Pakistan’s population has ballooned to 250 million (25 crore), according to the results of the latest census published Saturday, growing by 35 million in just six years. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the annual growth rate of 2.5% presented a “big challenge” for the cash-strapped nation. The country’s first digital census was conducted by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics throughout May 2023 .
Sharif has said the coming election will be conducted on the basis of the latest census, with the data used to outline constituencies. It is not possible to complete that process and hold the election within the constitutionally required deadline, meaning the election cannot be held before February next year, he said.

The country’s national assembly is expected to dissolve later this week.