LAHORE: Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique has stated that a “political smog” created by Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is trying to pollute the democratic environment of the country.
Rafique in a Twitter message regarding the general elections of 2018, called upon the two political parties to support the constitutional amendment bill pertaining to the delimitation of seats in the National Assembly to ensure that the polls are held as per the schedule. He stated that parties that are opposing the constitutional amendment on delimitation are the ones that believe that it will affect their representation in the 2018 elections.
The minister stressed that the constitutional amendment on the delimitation of seats was essential now that the population headcount has been updated.
In an earlier tweet, Rafique clarified that delimitation had caused Punjab to lose nine seats but Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had no reservations over this.
The minister lauded the efforts of the ruling party for holding the population census, adding that the PPP did not take the initiative to hold the census during its tenure.
Stressing on the importance of the headcount, Rafique said that no plans of the future can be devised without updating the national database based on the latest census.