Pak parliament approves delimitation of constituencies bill

Pakistan's parliament today passed a constitutional amendment bill relating to delimitation of constituencies on the basis of population census carried out this year.
The 24th Constitutional Amendment Bill 2017 was moved in Senate, upper house of parliament, by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab.
It was supported by 84 senators both form treasury and the Opposition benches while only one Senator from a small Opposition party opposed it.
The bill was already passed by the National Assembly, the lower house, last month.
It seeks to carry out fresh delimitation of constituencies on the basis of officially published census results.
The bill has reduced nine seats for National Assembly from the Punjab province.

Out of them, five were allocated to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, three to Balochistan and one to federal capital territory.
The total number of seats for National Assembly remained unchanged at 342.
The move is aimed to fulfil a constitutional obligation to exercise delimitation of constituencies on the basis of census.