ISLAMABAD:
After the passage of the twenty sixth and twenty seventh constitutional amendments, there was hypothesis in regards to the twenty eighth modification. Among the many concepts circulating, the one which has garnered essentially the most consideration and criticism is the suggestion to lift the voting age from 18 to 25 years.
This debate has triggered concern because it instantly impacts democratic participation and the political position of a predominantly younger voters.
The problem gained widespread political consideration after Farhatullah Babar, a senior politician from the PPP, publicly criticised the proposal.
In an X put up, he wrote: “Why this discuss of elevating the age of a voter to 25 years? The federal government should reject it outright whether it is certainly behind it. Elevating voters’ age to 25 appears directed towards a specific political chief, rightly or wrongly considered standard with the youth.”
The speculations reached Kot Lakhpat Jail, the place senior PTI leaders — detained underneath the 9 Might violence instances, together with Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry, Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed, and Omar Sarfaraz Cheema — wrote a letter publicly opposing the concept, speculating that “unnamed forces” had been circulating it out of concern of the youth’s political energy.
Whereas the talk was gaining momentum, Rana Sanaullah’s remark sparked fears that one thing could also be within the works.
When requested on a personal TV channel, he stated whereas no official discussions had been underway, some folks consider that if an individual can not contest elections till the age of 25, there may be little motive for the voting age to stay at 18.
He added that the concept is being debated, and if there’s a consensus, it may occur.
The general public discourse bought so out of hand that Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal got here on report to name it baseless.
On Thursday, he posted a video on his X account clarifying the federal government’s place, stating that “no such laws [is] into account.”
He added that whereas there may be an rising political dialogue about elevating the voting age, no formal invoice has been tabled but. He emphasised: “Now we have confidence in our youth, and we won’t even consider depriving them of the suitable to vote.”
Regardless of the federal government’s categorical denial, the depth of the dialogue has revived questions on how Pakistan’s voting age was initially decided.
About twenty years in the past, Pakistan took a distinct strategy to voting rights. In 2002, President Normal Pervez Musharraf lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 by issuing the Conduct of Normal Elections (Modification) Order, 2002.
This variation was offered as a part of wider electoral reforms to extend democratic participation by giving youthful folks the suitable to vote. Since then, the voting age of 18 has remained intact and is now an everyday a part of Pakistan’s election system.
To completely grasp the scope of this impression, it’s useful to have a look at the demographic knowledge that quantifies what number of younger folks can be instantly affected by such a change.
In line with the Election Fee of Pakistan (ECP) knowledge on the time of the overall election in 2024, the overall variety of voters was round 128.58 million, with younger voters numbering 56.86 million, ages 18–35, constituting 44.22% of the overall voters.
Of those, 24.66 million voters had been aged 18–25. In mild of those figures, it turns into evident that any proposed change to the voting age would have an effect on not only a minor section, however a considerable portion of the voters.
Constructing on this, the Free and Truthful Election Community (Fafen) has analysed the ECP’s publicly accessible knowledge to offer deeper perception into voter traits.
Fafen printed detailed studies utilizing ECP knowledge from January 22, 2025, and December 30, 2025. It studies that the ECP added over 3.3 million new voters in 2025, about 9,113 new voters every day, based mostly on district-level knowledge.
The rising variety of voters reveals how the voters is continually altering, so any change to the voting age would have a huge impact on each present and future voters.
Towards this historic backdrop, analysts consider the talk is a non-starter. Ahmad Bilal Mehboob, president of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Growth and Transparency (Pildat), elaborated on this level whereas talking with The Specific Tribune.
He defined that “though Mr Ahsan Iqbal has strongly denied that any such proposal is into account, I really feel the concept is a non-starter from the start. It can politically harm the federal government and additional alienate the youth.”
Mehboob additional defined: “Voters in increased age brackets, besides the 50+ cohort, additionally voted in better percentages for the PTI in comparison with the PML-N and the PPP. So if the concept was to deprive the PTI of youth votes, it won’t be achieved.”
Including international context, he stated, “It’s opposite to the worldwide development, the place voting age is being thought of to be lowered to fifteen years.”
Mudassir Rizvi, Fafen spokesperson and election knowledgeable, echoed Ahsan Iqbal, saying it’s extra about disinformation than benefit.
Chatting with The Specific Tribune, he stated: “It is extra of a hypothesis than a debate. I’d name it a basic case of disinformation apparently meant to impress greater than 20 million younger women and men between 18 and 25 years of age.”
He welcomed the specific denial by a senior federal minister and emphasised the necessity to hint the origin of this disinformation reasonably than discussing the benefit of a proposition that, if in any respect it exists, has no substance.
