The upcoming general elections in the country are likely to be delayed by three to four months following the endorsement of the 2023 census during a Council of Common Interest meeting in Islamabad on Saturday.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif presided over the meeting in which coalition partners also participated. The single-point agenda of the meeting was to deliberate over the population census.
The meeting, attended by chief ministers of all four provinces, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Aviation Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, Commerce Minister Syed Naveed Qamar, Adviser to the PM on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Qamar Zaman Kaira and other officials also participated in the huddle. The meeting was told that Pakistan’s population has surged to 241.49 million.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed concern over the increase in population of Pakistan.
Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the Council of Common Interests is an important constitutional body which strengthens the federation.
He noted with concern that population has increased by 3.5 crore in the last 6 years which is much higher than its economic growth.
He underscored the need for controlling population growth and overcoming the challenge by accelerating the pace of economic development.
This was the first ever digital census of the country in which Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to ensure real time monitoring, transparency, data quality and complete coverage.
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, while speaking to the media, said that the general elections will be held on new census results following the CCI approval.
During the briefing, it was disclosed that the annual growth under the new digital
population census stands at 2.55%, with Balochistan showing the highest growth and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa registering the lowest.
Punjab leads with over 120 million inhabitants, followed by Sindh with more than 50 million, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with over 30 million, and Balochistan with over 20 million population, as reported by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
The Ministry of Planning and Development provided insights into the digital census, and the meeting marked the final approval for Pakistan’s first-ever digital census. This monumental step towards digitisation was undertaken within a span of just 18 months, setting a historic precedent.
The census not only marked the first time Pakistan’s population was digitally counted using tablets but also introduced the convenience of self-enumeration for the citizens.
The insiders said the CCI huddle unanimously approved the latest digital census despite the Pakistan People’s Party, a key ally of the Pakistan Democratic Movement-led government, had publicly expressed reservations over it.
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics also reportedly informed the federal government that it had completed all the formalities.
The general elections are likely to be delayed by a couple of months as the Election Commission of Pakistan would need additional time to conduct the delimitation exercise afresh.
