The Senate passed with a majority on Friday the amendment to the Elections Act 2017 after the National Assembly (NA) did the same on Thursday.
The bill pertains to fresh delimitation of constituencies in line with the provisional results of the latest census in light of the general elections next year.
Law Minister Zahid Hamid presented the bill in the Senate. Speaking on the floor, he said we are Muslims and believe in the finality of the Prophet (PBUH). He was referring to the passing of the second bill in the NA on Thursday related to Khatam-e-Nabuwat. That bill, too, was taken up by the upper house of Parliament today.
Speaking during today's session, Senate Deputy Chairman Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, who hails from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F, said the Ahmadis' status is the same as it was in the 1973 Constitution.
NA passes laws
In the NA, the constitutional amendment bill on delimitation was passed with 242 parliamentary members voting in its favour.
Moreover, the lower house also passed the amendment related to the restoration of the Khatam-e-Nabuwat [finality of Prophethood] clause to its original form.
Both the bills were presented before the assembly by Law Minister Zahid Hamid.
Read more: National Assembly passes Elections (Amendment) Bill 2017
According to the new delimitation, Punjab's seat share in the National Assembly will decrease by nine seats, while Islamabad will get one more seat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa five and Balochistan three more.
NA seats for FATA and Sindh will remain unchanged.
Earlier, NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq had said after chairing a meeting of parliamentary parties that the total NA seats will remain 272 but there would be a change in the allocation of NA seats for the provinces.
On November 13, the Council of Common Interests (CCI) approved delimitation of new constituencies on the basis of provisional results of Population Census 2017, paving a way for timely conduct of next general elections.
Briefing the media after the CCI meeting, the prime minister's special aide, Musaddiq Malik, said the political leadership resolved a major constitutional crisis through wisdom. "The election commission will immediately start working on the delimitation of new constituencies following a constitutional amendment," he said.
