Delimitation of constituencies: Mamnoon signs 'Constitutional Amendment Bill 2017'

President Mamnoon Hussain has signed 'The Constitutional (Amendment) Bill, 2017' for delimitation of constituencies and reallocation of National Assembly seats on the basis of provisional census results. The National Assembly had approved 'The Constitutional (Amendment) Bill, 2017' pertaining to delimitate the constituencies and reallocation of National Assembly seats in the provinces with 242 votes in its favour and one against it on November 16, 2017.
All political parties supported the bill in the National Assembly, while independent candidate Jamshed Dasti opposed it after the House rejected his amendment to the bill. The Senate had approved the 'Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017' on December 19, 2017 with 84 votes in favour of the bill and one against it.
Earlier on December 11, voting on the bill was postponed for the fifth time in the Senate. On November 27, the bill wasn't passed because the required number of lawmakers was not present in the House. The House of 104 needed a two-third majority to pass the bill whereas less than 50 lawmakers were present.
It is worth to note that the two-third majority in the Senate, having a total strength of 104, was required to get the constitutional amendment passed. The government had developed consensus with main political parties in the House to attain the required strength of 69 members.
The law seeks fresh delimitation of constituencies ahead of upcoming general election on the basis of provisional results of the population census. The Constitutional Amendment Bill says that Article 51(5) of the Constitution provides that seats in the National Assembly shall be allocated to each province, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the federal capital on the basis of population in accordance with the last preceding census officially published.
There is consensus amongst the political parties that for purpose of the next general election to be held in 2018 and by-elections related thereto, allocation of National Assembly seats should be made on the basis of provisional results of 2017 census without changing the existing total number of general seats (272) and women seats (60) and retaining the share of the FATA (12).
According to reallocation, seats will increase for Balochistan (2 general seats +1 women seat), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (4 general seats +1 woman seat) and federal capital (1 general seats +0 woman seat), while seats for Punjab will decrease (-7 general seats, -2 women seats), and seats for Sindh will remain the same.