Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar has said that holding the elections will take more than five months based on the digital census of 2023.

The meeting of the Council of Common Interest presided over by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif unanimously confirmed the 2023 census results, he said on Saturday.

The provinces’ share in the general seats of the National Assembly will not change in the next elections based on the results of the census, he added.

The general elections for the national and provincial assemblies will be conducted based on the published census as per Article 51 of the Constitution, the minister noted.

It is for the Election Commission of Pakistan to complete the delimitation process within an outer limit of 120 days, he said, However, he added that it is the prerogative of the ECP when it starts the process.

Tarar was of the view that the outer limit of 120 days for delimitation can be reduced by effectively working and then another 54 days are required for the general elections.

Around two months will be added to the around 90 days, he said, adding that it should go longer than that.

Earlier, the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association Abid Zuberi also called it impossible to hold the election on time after the CCI meeting approved the results of the census 2023.

He questioned the constitution of the CCI owing to the presence of two caretaker chief ministers’ presence in the meeting.

“The chief ministers of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cannot come to the CCI meeting. Their job is day-to-day business. How can they sit in the CCI meeting?”

How will the government amend the Constitution if the census results show that the seats of a province should be increased, he inquired.

He believed that all such practices are an attempt to extend the date of the elections. “We have seen that nobody acted on the Supreme Court’s order of holding elections in Punjab and KP. When the apex court’s order was not followed, then it does not matter if the elections are delayed or held before time.”