Constitution 1973 § Article 51 — National Assembly

Statutory text (English)

(1) There shall be 3[three hundred and thirty-six] seats for members
in the National Assembly, including seats reserved for women and non-Muslims.

(2) A person shall be entitled to vote if—
(a) he is a citizen of Pakistan;
(b) he is not less than eighteen years of age;
(c) his name appears on the electoral roll; and
(d) he is not declared by a competent court to be of unsound mind.
3[
(3) The seats in the National Assembly referred to in clause

(1), except the seats mentioned
in clause

(4), shall be allocated to each Province and the Federal Capital as under:—
General Seats Women Seats Total Seats
Balochistan 16 4 20
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 45 10 55
Punjab 141 32 173
Sindh 61 14 75
Federal Capital 3 - 3
Total 266 60 326]
3[(3A) Notwithstanding anything contained in clause

(3) or any other law for the time being in
force, the members of the National Assembly from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas to be
elected in the general elections, 2018 shall continue till dissolution of the National Assembly and
thereafter this clause shall stand omitted.]

(4) In addition to the number of seats referred to in clause

(3), there shall be, in the National
Assembly, ten seats reserved for non- Muslims.
4[
(5) 3[*******] 3[The] seats in the National Assembly shall be allocated to each province and
the Federal Capital on the basis of population in accordance with the last preceding census officially
published:

Provided that for purposes of the next general elections to be held in 2018 and bye-elections
related thereto, the allocation shall be made on the basis of provisional results of the 2017 census which
shall be published by the Federal Government.]

(6) For the purpose of election to the National Assembly,—
(a) the constituencies for the general seats shall be single member territorial
constituencies and the members to fill such seats shall be elected by direct and
free vote in accordance with law;
(b) each Province shall be a single constituency for all seats reserved for women
which are allocated to the respective Provinces under clause

(3);
(c) the constituency for all seats reserved for non-Muslims shall be the whole
country;
(d) members to the seats reserved for women which are allocated to a Province
under clause

(3) shall be elected in accordance with law through proportional
representation system of political parties’ lists of candidates on the basis of total
number of general seats secured by each political party from the Province
concerned in the National Assembly:

Provided that for the purpose of this paragraph the total number of
general seats won by a political party shall include the independent returned
candidate or candidates who may duly join such political party within three days
of the publication in the official Gazette of the names of the returned candidates;
and
(e) members to the seats reserved for non-Muslims shall be elected in accordance
with law through proportional representation system of political parties’ lists of
candidates on the basis of total number of general seats won by each political
party in the National Assembly:

Provided that for the purpose of this paragraph the total number of
general seats won by a political party shall include the independent returned
candidate or candidates who may duly join such political party within three days
of the publication in the official Gazette of the names of the returned
candidates.]

Source and verification

Source citation: Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, Art. 51: Pakistan Code portal consolidated official PDF 'THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN' (incl. 26th Amdt Act 2024 & 27th Amdt Act 2025), p. 33, 34, ingested 2026-09-15. Automated transcription from official source (pypdf extraction, audited artifact repair); human admin re-check required before production.

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Historical text notes

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• Date not confirmed: Consolidated current text as published in the official Pakistan Code PDF (p. 33, 34) — reflects all amendments recorded in the official footnotes up to ingest date 2026-09-15. Automated transcription; per-amendment…

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