PPP ‘will have to take a stand’ if polls are delayed

Khursheed Shah says names for caretaker PM yet to be finalised at leadership level

Water Resources Minister Syed Khursheed Shah said on Sunday that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) would have to “take a stand” if general elections were delayed.

In an interview with a private TV channel, the minister expressed the apprehension that he did not see voting in November because delimitation of constituencies on the basis of new digital census would take four months.

The re-recorded interview was aired after approval of the digital census, 2023, by the Council of Common Interests (CCI). Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had said earlier that the coming election would be held on the basis of new census.

The prime minister has also announced that assemblies will be dissolved on August 9 [Wednesday], following which the elections would be due within 90 days of the dissolution.

When asked when he saw elections taking place, Shah said that he initially believed that elections would take place on time in accordance with the Constitution, but now “I don’t see elections happening on November 12 or 13”.

However, he added that the PPP would “take a stand” if there was a delay in polls. About the caretaker set-up, he said that the five names had been finalised at the committee level consultation, but not at the leadership level.