Senate postpones vote on delimitation bill: sources

ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Wednesday decided to postpone the voting on the bill for delimitation of constituencies until Monday due to expected low attendance in the upper house, sources informed Geo News.

At least 69 votes are required to get the Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2017 approved, which pertains to the fresh delimitation of constituencies in line with the provisional results of the latest census in light of the general elections next year.

The upper house, however, managed to pass on Friday the Elections Amendment Bill, 2017, related to Khatam-e-Nabuwat clauses for voters, after the National Assembly (NA) did the same on Thursday.

PM Abbasi seeks PPP's support 

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi contacted Opposition Leader Khursheed Shah in view of seeking the Pakistan Peoples Party's support for today's vote in the Senate.  

Shah informed Geo News that he told the premier that he can convey his message to the party leadership and requested that the premier give him the request in writing so the party can have a consultation over it. 

Failed attempts  

This Monday, voting on the bill was adjourned as only 22 members were present in the house, whereas the bill required the presence of 69 members for its passage. 

Earlier, the lawmakers had failed to pass the bill on Friday even though they had voted for the Elections Amendment Bill, 2017 the same day. 

According to the new delimitation of constituencies, Punjab's seat share in the National Assembly will decrease by nine seats, while Islamabad will get one more seat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa five and Balochistan three more.

NA seats for FATA and Sindh will remain unchanged.

Earlier, NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq had said after chairing a meeting of parliamentary parties that the total NA seats will remain 272 but there would be a change in the allocation of NA seats for the provinces.

On November 13, the Council of Common Interests approved delimitation of new constituencies on the basis of provisional results of Population Census 2017, paving a way for timely conduct of next general elections.