ISLAMABAD: The seven National Assembly seats that Punjab will lose in the new delimitation of constituencies to be done by the Election Commission of Pakistan on the basis of the population census 2017 are located in the stronghold of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) where it swept in the 2013 general elections.

On the other hand, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had won most seats in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) districts of Peshawar, Swat and Dera Ismail Khan/ Tank/ Lakki Marwat which will get three additional seats that will be excluded from Punjab’s quota.

However, the Jamaat-e-Islami was successful in both constituencies of Upper/Lower Dir that will also get one additional seat according to the new scheme.

Previously, the PTI had clinched three of the four seats of Peshawar with the one having been taken by the Awami National Party (ANP) in a by-election. It had also bagged both Swat seats while it had secured three from Dera Ismail Khan/ Tank/ Lakki Marwat with the fourth having gone to the Jamiate Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).

In the fresh arrangement, Lahore’s seats may go up to 14 from 13. The south Punjab - Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur and Muzaffargarh - is likely to have two added seats.

Of the Punjab districts, Faisalabad, Sahiwal, Okara, Narowal, Sheikhupura/ Nankana Saheb, Jhang/ Chiniot, and Gujranwala/ Hafizabad will have one seat each less than they earlier had.

The PML-N had a complete sway in these districts in the 2013 polls. While distributing tickets for the upcoming polls, it will have to adjust all the old winners in different ways when there will be seven less seats for it to earmark.

For example, the PML-N had won all the three seats in 2013, electing Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Privatization Minister Daniyal Aziz and Mian Muhammad Rashid. Of them, the two ministers will be certainly given tickets again while the fate of the third winner hangs in balance. Those who will not be accommodated may have bad blood that will hurt the party.

Of the seven seats that will be taken from Punjab, four will go to KP, two to Balochistan and one to the federal capital.

The Quetta division in addition to a few districts of the Sibi division will get both the additional seats that Balochistan will secure under new delimitation.

According to a report, in Balochistan, as the districts are less populous than rest of Pakistan, more than one district are combined to form a national constituency. Ten districts of Kalat and Makran divisions presently share five national seats among themselves.

This is unlikely to change as their share in population has only marginally increased from what it was in previous census. The present two seats each of Nasirabad and Zhob divisions will also remain the same.

The federal capital will get one extra seat, which will raise its quota in the National Assembly to three from two. At present, the two seats are shared by the PML-N and PTI.

The seats among the districts will be allocated as per the population that emerged in the new census. On the same basis, the provincial share was hiked or reduced in the national legislature while maintaining the total tally of directly elected seats, 272.

Punjab’s total directly contested seats will now come down to 141 from 148. Had this happened to a smaller province, a lot of hue and cry would have been raised by it with the usual complaint that younger brothers are being discriminated against.

There has not been even a single voice from Punjab, protesting against the cut in his share.

The political parties worth the name did not agitate over the decrease in Punjab’s seats for their own reasons. Some feared that such protest will not be received well in KP and Balochistan, which have their quota gone up.

The PML-N’s opponents were happy over the drop of seats for Punjab because they believed that it would hurt the ruling party, which is electorally in a better position in this province.

As the PML-N wanted on-time elections at all costs, it desisted from agitating against the reduction of seats in its bastion of power to avoid creating any controversy or hurdle in the way of the forthcoming polls.

Since the PTI was happy over the increase in KP’s seats, it preferred to keep mum. Due to its position in Punjab, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was not bothered about the development.

As a whole, KP, Balochistan and Islamabad will get nine more seats – seven directly elected and two special seats.

The new census revealed that the population growth rate in Punjab was the lowest among all the federating units while it went up in KP, Balochistan and the federal capital.

Since Sindh maintained its previous position in terms of population, there was no change in its seats.

The ECP will carry out the constituency delimitation as per a recently passed constitutional amendment on the basis of the provisional results of the census, preparing itself for the on-time elections in July next.

The delimitation may generate a considerable heat against the ECP in areas where the prospective candidates will be affected.

They tend to disapprove the process where their strongholds are taken out from their constituencies and are included in other seats.

However, in the highly charged environment that has been created because of the lingering political tussle, the ECP is expected to be as fair, just and transparent as is humanely possible.

It is likely to attend to the justified complaints of the contenders.