SHC seeks progress report on final results of 2017 census

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday directed the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) to submit a progress report with regard to the announcement of the final results of the 2017 census after the approval of the Council of Common Interests (CCI).

The court was hearing the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) petition against the constitution of delimitation committees and the process of delimitation for the local bodies’ elections in Sindh by the provincial election commission.

An SHC division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar asked the federal law officer about the publication of the final results of the census by the federal government. PBS Director Shaukat Zaman said that the CCI has convened a meeting on March 24 with regard to the approval of the final results of the 2017 census. He sought time to file the progress report.

The bench directed the PBS to file the progress report with regard to the approval and the announcement of the final results of the census in the next hearing. The bench also directed the census department to submit the minutes of the meeting in the next hearing with regard to the announcement of the final results of the 2017 census.

The court had been informed earlier by the federal law officer that the federal cabinet meeting had approved the census results and the matter had been forwarded to the CCI for the final approval, following which the census results would be published for the public.

The court had earlier observed that the provincial election commissioner and the PBS officer had already given the statement that without the notification of the final results of the census, local government elections in the province were not possible.

The MQM’s senior deputy convenor Amir Khan, then Karachi mayor Wasim Akhtar and others had said in their petition that the provincial election commissioner had formed election committees for the delimitation of local bodies’ constituencies and carried out the delimitation process in violation of the election commission’s laws.

They said that the election commission was required to carry out delimitation after the results of every census officially published by the competent authority, but the final results of the 2017 census had not been officially published.

They added that the delimitation of the constituencies in the absence of any official publication could not be possible under the election and delimitation laws. They also said that since the final results of the 2017 census had not been published, it showed that they were still disputed and even sub judice (under judicial consideration) in court and at other relevant forums.

They added that the election authorities’ act of proceeding with the delimitation process in the absence of any statutory sanction amounted to hoodwinking the law and circumventing the mandatory provisions.

They further said that the constitution of the delimitation committees and the process of delimitation of the local bodies’ constituencies were in violation of the election and delimitation laws as well as the directions of the superior courts in delimitation cases.

They questioned the constitution of the committees in the absence of officials of PBS or census bureau. They said that the delimitation committees and their actions, if any carried out, were of no legal effect for the reasons that the law did not permit delimitation to take place on the basis of provisional census results.

They added that delimitation during the Covid-19 pandemic could not be possible, and that instead, the appointment of administrators and all the LG representatives’ tenure should be extended for six months.

They requested the court to declare the constitution of the committees for the delimitation of local bodies’ constituencies illegal and restrain them from carrying out the delimitation process for the local bodies’ constituencies in the province until the petition was decided.

The petitioners’ counsel admitted that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had the right to delimit the constituencies after the results of every census officially published.

However, he added, the same section accords powers to the ECP to delimit the territorial constituencies for elections to the National Assembly, the provincial assemblies and the local governments in accordance with the provisions of the constitution, the election act, the election rules and the applicable LG laws. He said delimitation in current circumstances was unjustified and against the law.

The ECP’s counsel said that two applications had also been filed before the commission raising questions on delimitation on the basis of provisional census results 2017 and calling the exercise unconstitutional, adding that the ECP could not delimit constituencies

in the absence of officially published census results.

He said that these applications were disposed of on the grounds that due to the non-provision of the requisite data notifications and maps by the provincial government, the process of delimitation of constituencies of the local governments of Sindh initiated by the ECP vide a notification dated August 31, 2020 was deferred for the time being.

The election commission’s special secretary, Zafar Iqbal Malik, said that the official results of the 2017 census must be published for the fair exercise of delimitation.

The provincial election commissioner had sent a notification to all the district election commissioners for the delimitation of union councils, union committees and wards for conducting the LG elections in the province, as the terms of the local representatives were to expire on August 31, 2020.