This is just in time for delimitation of constituencies of national and provincial assemblies ahead of October general election – always assuming that the CCI can agree on the data in time.
By Muhammad Ali
ISLAMABAD: The field operations for Pakistan’s first ever digital census are due to conclude today, with just enough time to complete delimitation of electoral constituencies for the upcoming general election, due in October.
The field operations of Census-2023 commenced March 1, 2023 with the original completion deadline set for April 4, 2023. However, the deadline has since been extended five times to ensure completion of enumeration coverage of the leftover structures and houses.
The last extension granted in pursuance of the decisions made in the 12th meeting of Census Monitoring Committee held on April 28, 2023 was for two weeks till May 15, 2023.
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) fully facilitated the provincial governments to complete the operations in time by sharing the disaggregated data regarding the under-enumeration and by deputing staff from PBS HQ to help speed up the operations.
In the meeting of demographers held on May 12, 2023, it was recommended that the field operations of the Census-2023 may not further be extended, mainly due to the continuous births, deaths and migration dynamics of the society which may badly impact the results if not prudently taken care of during the census field operations.
Chief Statistician Dr Naeem Ul Zafar sent out an official communication to four provincial governments and the governments of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, advising them to complete their respective census enumeration and verification operations till the stipulated date of May 15, 2023, as the deadline for census field operation will not be extended any further.
He remined them that During the 13th meeting of Census Monitoring Committee, it was decided that the census field operation will not be further extended beyond this date due to its linkage with delimitation of electoral constituencies for the upcoming general election.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has previously taken notice of the repeated extension of the deadline for field operations. Several experts have also advised the government against extending the deadline any further to avoid controversy.
One approved by the Council of Common Interests (CCI), the final census data will be passed to the Election Commission of Pakistan, who will then use it to determine the number of national and provincial assembly constituencies as well as their delimitation ahead of the general election, due in October 2023.
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