Pakistan general elections to be delayed by new census

Sharif's tenure expires on August 12. The caretaker government will take over from him to hold the elections in a maximum of three months.

The law minister, Azam Nazeer Tarar, told Geo News TV that it could take about four months to complete the census and draw new constituency boundaries across the country.

A former top official of the Election Commission of Pakistan, Kunwar Dilshad, told Reuters the elections due by November at the latest could be delayed by several months.

It is not possible to complete that process and hold the election within the constitutionally required deadline, meaning the election cannot be held before February next year, he said.

Tarar said the decision was taken at a meeting of the Council of Common Interest, which included representatives from federal and provincial governments.

"It was a consensus decision to hold elections under the new census," the minister said.

The election commission will decide exactly how much time it needs, Tarar said.

The announcement has sparked concerns among the opposition, led by former premier Imran Khan, that a caretaker administration to be set up to oversee the vote could mean polling day is pushed back by months.

The government denies it is dragging its feet, saying it is a constitutional requirement to hold elections under the latest census.

Police arrested Khan on Saturday after he was handed a jail term in a corruption case, potentially barring the former cricket star from contesting the election.

The ruling coalition of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's tenure expires on Aug. 12. The caretaker government will take over from him to hold the elections in a maximum of three months.

Sharif has proposed dissolving parliament on August 9, three days before the end of its term.

That would mean the election commission has 90 days to hold the vote against 60 days if parliament were dissolved on August 12 at the end of its full five-year term.