18th Constitutional Amendment: ‘No plan to bring any change if PML-N comes into power’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said on Monday it had no plan to bring any change to the 18th Constitutional Amendment if it comes into power after February 2024 general elections.

Senator Irfan Siddiqui, who is chairman of PML-N’s manifesto committee, rejected the assertions made in the report that PML-N would amend the 18th Constitutional Amendment if it came into power.

“We have not received any such recommendations,” said Senator Siddiqui, who is also a close aide of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif. He added that changes in the 18th Amendment were “never discussed” in party meetings.

According to reports, the PML-N’s manifesto committee has received several suggestions including the reversal of the 18th Amendment to change the distribution mechanism of finances among provinces.

The PML-N had formed its manifesto committee comprising over 33 members on November 7 with Senator Siddiqui as its chairman.

The committee was formed days after Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan as the party geared up its political activities ahead of the February 8 polls.

The amendment in question has been talked about extensively and there have been calls to make changes in it. It was passed during the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led government in 2010 and the party has always vowed to resist any moves that would be made to change it.

The amendment devolved powers to provinces on issues such as health, women’s development, social welfare, and local government.

The amendment also defined that provinces’ would receive 57.5 percent of the share of federal resources while the rest of the amount was to be used by the centre for debt servicing, development programmes, defence, and other areas.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023