KARACHI - No less than 30 Union Council Chairmen belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party Thursday failed to reach the venue during the election, paving the way for Pakistan Peoples Party’s Barrister Murtaza Wahab to get elected as Mayor Karachi.
Wahab secured 173 votes followed by Jamaat-e-Islami’s Hafiz Naeem-ur- Rehman with 160 votes.
PPP’s Salman Murad emerged victorious for deputy mayor slot with 173 votes while JI’s Saif-ud-din got 160 votes and stood runners-up.
Returning Officer Nazar Abbas told the media that in show of hands procedure, PPP’s Wahab and Murad elected as mayor and deputy mayor respectively receiving 173 votes each. He said that JI’s Naeem-ur-Rehman and Saif-ud-din could get 160 votes each.
The PPP’s both mayor and deputy mayor aspirants however failed to get the simple majority in the council. In a council of 367 (currently 366 with a result on one UC pending) members, a candidate had to seal simple majority by securing 184 votes to become the city mayor but as per the law, a candidate could also be elected after receiving majority of votes cast by members present.
The Election of Commission of Pakistan had declared Arts Council of Pakistan as the polling station where private media both print and electronic had been barred for coverage. The PPP was the single largest party, having 155 members followed by the JI with 130 UC Chairmen. The PTI stood third with 62 members. The tough competition was expected between the PPP and JI as both the parties were able to get support from other parties.
Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman officially had support of 192 members after publicly announcement by the PTI leadership while Wahab of the PPP had 173 members in his favour with the help PML-N and JUI-F. When the voting began, 334 members—155 of PPP, 130 of JI, 31 of PTI, 14 of PML-N and four of JUI-F— appeared to cast their votes while at least 31 UC Chairmen of the PTI remained absent despite the party’s repeated directives to vote for the JI’s mayor and deputy mayor candidates. PTI’s Firdaus Shamim Naqvi—who was currently detained in a case pertaining to 9th May’s chaos—was brought to the polling station but he did not cast the vote, apparently to keep his Sindh Assembly membership. Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan’s sole UC Chairman also abstained from voting.
‘Clashes outside arts council’ Police arrested at least eight suspects outside the arts council as clash erupted between the supporters of the PPP and JI. The workers of both the sides chanted slogans and pelted stones at each other. The scuffle forced police and Rangers to intervene and law enforcers detained eight suspects.
BILAWAL FELICITATES NEWLY ELECTED LOCAL BODIES REPRESENTATIVES
Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also extended congratulations to the newly elected heads and deputy heads of local bodies from Karachi to Kashmore on their historic success. In a statement issued by Media Cell Bilawal House here, the PPP Chairman congratulated newly elected Mayor Karachi Murtaza Wahab, Mayor Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Kashif Shoro, Sukkur Municipal Corporation Mayor Arslan Shaikh, Mirpurkhas Municipal Corporation Mayor Abdul Rauf Ghori, Nawabshah Municipal Corporation Mayor Rashid Bhatti and Larkana Municipal Corporation Mayor Anwar Ali Lohar. Bilawal also expressed his best wishes to the successful chairmen and vice chairmen of all local bodies, including district council, municipal and town committees as well as union councils, who were successful in the elections held on Thursday. Bilawal while thanking the parties in PDM including PML-N and JUI-F, said that he was grateful to the coalition parties and said due to their cooperation a historic victory was achieved.
JI REJECTS RESULTS
Meanwhile, the JI rejected the results and termed the same ‘unconstitutional and undemocratic’. Talking to media, JI Karachi Ameer and mayor candidate Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman also announced to observe a ‘Black Day’ today (16th June) on appeal of JI Pakistan Ameer Sirajul Haq as the party decided to observe the protest demonstrations across the country. “The PPP killed the democracy by snatching the ‘mandate of Karachiites’ with the help of state machinery and the Election Commission of Pakistan,” he alleged. He said that the Sindh government did not produce 31 elected UC chairmen belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf despite court orders.