ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani government has decided not to notify results of the latest census held in April and hold the upcoming general elections based on the population count of 2017, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah announced on Saturday, admitting the population had “issues.”

The initial results of Pakistan’s digital census revealed in May 2023 that the South Asian country’s population had reached 249.5 million, with approximately 127.4 million people living in the most populous Punjab province, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

Several political parties, including the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), in the southern Sindh province objected to the headcount in the province, while concerns were also raised over the results in the most backward Balochistan province in the country’s southwest.

Speaking to a private broadcaster, Sanaullah acknowledged that several stake-holders had raised their concerns over the latest population survey.

“The government has decided it will not notify this [new census] and when the assemblies will be dissolved after completing their terms, the Election Commission of Pakistan will be bound to conduct the elections on the basis of the previous census,” the interior minister told Pakistan’s Geo News channel.

The government would not be notifying the census as it had “issues,” he admitted, saying there were complaints about the results in Balochistan too.

The minister stressed the need to have a consensus on census results. It was important that all issues were sorted out and any hasty decision on the census could lead to a “controversial situation” in the country, he added.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif this week announced the tenure of his coalition administration would come to an end on August 14, adding the election regulator would then announce whether the country would go to polls in October or November.

The Sharif-led government came into power in April last year after former premier Imran Khan was ousted from power in a parliamentary no-confidence vote. Khan demanded early elections in the country soon after that, but the government insisted it would complete its stipulated term.