KARACHI: Sindh High Court (SHC) Wednesday ordered to issue notice to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) to file their comments regarding a petition challenging delay in announcement of the final results of national population census.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Irshad Hussain Khan heard the constitutional petition number 4452/2020. Lawyer of the petitioner, Altaf Shakoor, Chairman Pasban Democratic Party, Irfan Aziz, submitted that the final results of the national census are not being released by the government with an intention not to hold local government elections in Pakistan.
The bench ordered to issue notice to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics to file their comments. PBS and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) have been made respondents in the petition.
The petitioner submitted that though the process was completed on time, yet the provisional results were delayed by a month. Resultantly, different political parties raised questions about the credibility of the results.
The petitioner said that the census results also play a crucial role in a parliamentary democracy. That, as the elected local bodies have already completed their term on 29th August 2020 and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is under an obligation to hold the next local government elections within 120 days after the expiry of the term of elected local government bodies, i.e., 29th August 2020.
That, as the delimitation of parliamentary seats is going to be based on this census, non-redressal of the reservations of political parties and delay in final results has put a big question mark on holding of local bodies elections, especially in Sindh.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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