Govt reluctant to bring delimitation bill to CCI, says Khursheed Shah

PPP leader also criticises PML-N govt for shelving NA session to 'dodge' electoral reforms bill

Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah said on Tuesday that the government was reluctant to bring the fresh delimitation bill before the Council of Common Interests (CCI).

"The approval of the CCI for new delimitation of constituencies is a constitutional requirement, but I don’t know why the government fears bringing up the issue there,” the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader told reporters in Islamabad, Express News reported.

Commenting on a committee formed by deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif to woo political parties, the PPP leader, in a lighter mood, said perhaps it was "too little, too late now".

Flanked by party colleague Naveed Qamar, Shah also lashed out at the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government for shelving Tuesday's National Assembly session to "dodge" the electoral reforms bill.



"The session was scheduled to last till Tuesday and shelving it at the last minute was a big joke," he said.

Senate – the upper house of Parliament – had passed the bill last month to scrap the controversial provision that allowed Nawaz Sharif to get re-elected as the head of PML-N in the aftermath of Supreme Court verdict that ousted him form the PM office. The Senate ruled that no person, not qualified to become a member of parliament, can hold any party office.

The new amendment was unlikely to have any impact whatsoever unless adopted by the National Assembly, where the ruling party holds a comfortable majority: If put to vote in the lower house of parliament, PML-N can simply opt to reject it.

Senate ‘bars’ disqualified person from heading party

If, the lower house rejects it, the matter would go to joint sitting of parliament. PML-N and its allied parties outnumber the combined strength of the opposition even if a joint session is summoned.

There are, however, some indications that cracks are beginning to appear in the apparent unity of the treasury benches. One cabinet member and some of his party colleagues have been openly criticising Nawaz for being elected as the president of the party after his disqualification by the Supreme Court.