PML-N continues efforts to get passed bill on delimitation of constituencies

ISLAMABAD, Dec 14 (APP):Pakistan Muslim League (N) had been persistently making efforts to get passed the
constitutional amendment bill on delimitation of constituencies from the Senate as it would pave
way for general election on time in August next year.
According to party sources, the PML-N government wanted
early passage of the constitutional amendment bill that would lead to new delimitation of
constituencies for the general elections, according to the provisional results
of the census held this year.
The National Assembly had already passed the bill with the consensus of political parties, but the bill could not sail through the Senate due to differences between the government and opposition parties.
The government had been in contact with Pakistan Peoples Party to remove its concerns so that the
amendment could be approved in the 104 member Senate.
The bill was stuck in the Senate due to opposition parties mainly PPP, which came up with some new
demands.
The government had said that it would keep on approaching the opposition parties for reaching a
consensus on the bill.
Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had repeatedly said that elections would be held on time when National Assembly would complete its tenure in first week of June next year.
However, recently PML-N leadership had expressed apprehensions about the stability of
the political system due to behaviour of opposition parties inside and outside
the Parliament.
Speaker National Assembly, Ayaz Sadiq expressed his views about dangers to the system,
saying he wanted the assemblies should complete their tenure but at the same time he said that it seemed that it would not happen.
The Speaker said incidents in the recent past were not in the interest of the
country.
Central leader of PML-N and Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal saw the delay in passage of the
bill in the Senate as part of attempts to destabilise the democratic system.
PML-N leadership had been saying that unseen forces were trying to undermine the
democratic parliamentary system.
In his statement, Ahsan Iqbal pointed to the incident in which their party members
in the Parliament received phone calls from unknown persons asking them to stay away from voting on the bill on
delimitation of constituencies in the National Assembly.
He also cited the latest sit ins at Faizabad as part of series of incidents in
the last four years to destabilise the PML-N government.
The coming days are crucial for the political system because if PMLN and PPP
develop a consensus on the bill on delimitation of constituencies it would
give enough time to the Election Commission to carry out its work and pave the
way for timely elections.