Pakistan's Punjab province may have nine lawmakers less in the new National Assembly when elections takes place next May, according to a proposal by parliamentary leaders today.
During the meeting, also attended by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, they proposed reducing the number of seats held by Punjab in the lower house of Parliament by nine, Dawn newspaper reported.
The meeting was called after the federal Cabinet referred the delimitation bill to Parliament on October 25.
During the meeting, the issue of an increase in the number of legislatures' seats was discussed. The bill was then referred to Parliament for debate and discussion.
During the meeting, chaired by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, the leaders proposed a redistribution of seats among provinces without increasing or decreasing the total number of seats in the assembly.
The National Assembly currently has 342 seats in total, out of which 272 are direct seats. Apart from Punjab's 148 seats, the lower house has 61 seats for Sindh, 35 for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 14 for Balochistan, 12 for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and two for Islamabad Capital Territory.
There are also 60 indirectly elected seats reserved for women and 10 for non-Muslims.
While the number of seats held by Punjab was reduced by nine - seven general and two reserved seats - in the proposal, the number of seats held by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan were increased by five and three, respectively.
It was proposed that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa be awarded four more general seats and one more reserved seat. Balochistan, on the other hand, would hold two more general seats and one more reserved seat.
It was also proposed that the number of seats held by the federal capital Islamabad be increased by one. The number of seats held by Sindh would not change under the proposals.
Today's meeting was attended by Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah, Jamaat-i-Islami parliamentary leader in National Assembly Sahibzada Tariqullah and others.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM-P) said that if their reservations regarding the provisional census results were not addressed, they would approach the courts for legal recourse.
The two parties have voiced reservations regarding the preliminary results of the census, which are serving as the basis of the current delimitation exercise.
The final results of the census are expected to be announced in April next year, which will not allow the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) enough time to carry out the delimitation process ahead of the next elections - due to be held in May.
The ECP has already warned the government that time is running out for fresh delimitation of constituencies ahead of the 2018 elections.
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