ISLAMABAD: The joint sitting of the Parliament on Friday passed the Delimitation of Constituencies Act 1974, as amended by the Senate.
The bill had to be presented to the joint sitting as under the Constitution, the amendments made by the Senate could not be passed by the National Assembly within 90 days.
The new act mentions to empowering the members by the Election Commission of Pakistan in their functioning in the process of delimitation of constituencies.
It is provided in the new bill that where the members attending the proceedings of the Commission are four and they are equally divided in their opinion; or where the members attending the proceedings of the Commission are three and there is difference of opinion among them; the matter shall be placed before the Commission for decision.
The bill provides that the Commission may authorize three or more members, acting together, to exercise and perform all or any of its powers and functions under this act.
According to other provisions of this act, where four members are authorized, the decision of majority shall prevail and where three members are authorized, the decision shall be unanimous; provided that (a) where four members have been authorized and they are equally divided in their opinion; and, where three members have been authorized and there is difference of opinion among them, the matter shall be placed before the Commission for decision.
The bill explains that National Assembly seats are allocated on the basis of population, with ten seats for non-Muslims whose constituency shall be the whole country and the constituencies for the seats reserved for women in the National Assembly shall be such that each province forms one constituency with as many such seats as are allocated to that province.
It has been further provided that all constituencies for general seats shall, as far as practicable, be delimited having regard to the distribution of population in geographically compact areas, existing boundaries of administrative units, facilities of communication and public convenience and other cognate factors to ensure homogeneity in the creation of constituencies.
However, for the purpose of delimiting constituencies for the general seats for Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) two or more separate areas may be grouped into one constituency.
As far as may be, the constituencies for election to the same Assembly shall be equal among themselves in population.
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