Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Monday rejected reports claiming the government was considering raising the minimum voting age from 18 to 25, calling such claims baseless.
Responding to a question, Tarar said no such proposal was under consideration and dismissed the matter as speculation.
The debate surfaced after Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political and Public Affairs Rana Sanaullah recently said the issue had come up during discussions linked to a proposed 28th Constitutional Amendment. He argued that if candidates cannot contest elections before the age of 25, then the minimum age for contesting polls should be brought down to 18 instead.
Under existing election laws, Pakistani citizens are eligible to be registered as voters if they are at least 18 years old on January 1 of the year in which electoral rolls are prepared or revised. They must also be residents, or deemed residents, of the relevant electoral area to be enrolled there.
Political leaders from both the opposition and allied parties also reacted to the reports. PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said he did not view the matter as a serious proposal and warned that denying 18-year-olds the right to vote would damage the democratic process. Speaking to reporters at Parliament House, he noted that people aged 15 to 29 are internationally recognised as youth.
JUI-F Senator Kamran Murtaza also opposed any move to raise the voting age, saying that if 18-year-olds are legally treated as adults, they should retain the right to vote. He said a person considered mature enough for marriage should also be considered capable of understanding the law and participating in elections.
The controversy comes amid wider speculation over another constitutional amendment. Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said over the weekend that any constitutional amendment would only move forward through consensus and added that there were currently no indications of a 28th Amendment. He stressed that a coalition government could not proceed on constitutional changes without consultation.
His remarks echoed comments by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who said no talks had yet taken place on a proposed 28th Constitutional Amendment, though he did not rule out discussions in the future.
