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Local body elections: PPP leads

in Hyderabad, PTI suffers
setback in Karachi
By Kamran Razi | Kashif Mushtaq | Kiran Khan |
Nausheen Yusuf | Rana Javaid | Tariq Abul Hasan |
Waqas Alam Angaria

Monday Jan 16, 2023

Security personnel performing their duties during the local body A

d elections in Hyderabad on January 15, 2023. — INP to
e

KARACHI/HYDERABAD/ISLAMABAD: Amid rigging

claims by the political parties due to the slow
announcement of results in Karachi, Pakistan
Peoples Party (PPP) was leading in Hyderabad local
government (LG) elections and for the first time was
in a position to appoint its mayor in Sindh’s second-
largest city, unofficial results showed on Monday.

So far, results of Karachi's 70 union committees

(UCs) have been released out of 246.

PPP emerged victorious on 37 UCs, Pakistan

Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has secured 14, Jamat-e-Islami
14 while Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP) and Jamiat
Ulama-e-Islam (JUI-F) claimed victory in two UCs
each, while an independent candidate has one won
seat.

Meanwhile, PTI suffered a setback in Karachi local

bodies polls when Khurram Sher Zaman — who was
considered the party’s candidate for the top slot of
the mayor — lost to PPP’s Najmi Alam in Saddar.

GEO NEWS LIVE | Pakistan News …

However, the initial results of the much-delayed

local body election's second phase in Karachi could
not be finalised even past midnight despite the
polling process ending at 5pm, political parties
started claiming that “rigging is underway in the
metropolis”.

The voting kicked off at 8am and continued

uninterrupted, with reports of sporadic clashes.
However, several confrontations were also reported
even after the polling process ended.

The parties seemingly did not respond strongly to

the clashes, however, later on, claims were made
that the Sindh government and the Election
Commission of Pakistan (ECP) were involved in
delaying the release of results.

Sindh Local Govt Elections 2023

Search...

Winner Winner
Assembly Constituency Winner Runner Up
Party Votes

Town
Pakistan
Municipal UC7 - Union
PPP Penal Peoples 2688 PTI Panel
Corporation Committee 7
Party
Baldia

Town
Municipal Pakistan
UC3 - Union Independent
Corporation PPP Penal Peoples 1956
Committee 3 Panel 3
Moriro Party
Mirbahar

District Pakistan
UC19 - Qazi
Council PPP Penal Peoples 3021
Arif
Dadu Party

Town
Pakistan
Municipal UC6 - Union
PPP Penal Peoples 2312 TLP Panel
Corporation Committee 6
Party
Baldia

District Pakistan
UC26 - Sangi
Council PPP Penal Peoples 2118 GDA Panel
Pharho
Badin Party

Town
Municipal Pakistan
UC1 - Union
Corporation PTI Panel Tehreek 2343 JUIF Panel
Committee 1
Moriro E Insaaf
Mirbahar

District Pakistan
UC6 - Mureed Sohail
Council Peoples 1896
Lakhiar Ahmad
Dadu Party

District Pakistan
UC26 - Sangi Shafi Muhammad
Council Peoples 2146
Pharho Muhammad Aslam
Badin Party

District Pakistan
UC6 - Mureed
Council PPP Penal Peoples 2210
Lakhiar
Dadu Party

Municipal Pakistan
‹ 2 / 60 ›

As hundreds of thousands of people headed to vote

in a bid to elect their local representatives, many
political parties had also earlier complained and
demanded the ECP to increase the polling time as
the process began late at some of the stations —
which was accepted in some polling stations.

At first, JUI-F — an ally of the Pakistan Peoples Party

(PPP) — and JI alleged that the Sindh government
had used delaying tactics by not ensuring that the
polling officers reach the stations on time.

"Everything has been pre-decided and they have just

staged the elections for a show," JUI-F's Karachi
leader Qari Usman alleged while speaking to
reporters in the metropolis.

When the day began to pass and results stopped

coming in, JI Karachi Emir Hafiz Naeem Ur Rehman
alleged that rigging was underway in the metropolis
as he castigated both — the ECP and Sindh
government.

Analysts said that despite the process of elections

being the responsibility of the election commission,
it would raise questions if the PPP wins the polls in
Karachi since it is the ruling party.

Furious JI

In response to the delay, Rehman directed the public

to encircle polling stations across the city as he
made claims of rigging in the process.

Addressing a presser at the Idarah Noor-e-Haq, the

JI’s mayoral candidate said that "it is the party's
constitutional, democratic, and legal right" to be
provided numbers of their election results.

However, the JI's senior leader said Chief Election

Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and the
secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan
(ECP) had issued clear orders to provide Forms 11
and 12, "which are not being followed".

The JI leader stressed that while he would

congratulate successful candidates in the local body
polls and encourage those who had lost, the party
won’t allow the hijacking of people’s mandate.

Sindh and ECP's defence

While talking to Geo News, Sindh Election

Commissioner Ejaz Anwar Chauhan said that the
results are taking time as each returning officer has
five UCs and results are being manually compiled as
the RTS system wasn't used in the elections.

The official said that the results from all polling

stations are reaching the offices of the ROs. He
added the process is tedious and complicated as it
takes time to develop a UC's result.

The election commissioner, explaining the process,

said that every UC has four wards and an average of
20 polling stations. The result of a UC is not
complete even if results from a single polling station
are not received.

In response, Sindh government spokesperson

Murtaza Wahab said the JI and Rehman's politics
revolves around protests and sit-ins — explaining
the party's recent protests against the provincial
administration.

"When the results started trickling in, the losers

began their bid to escape," the Sindh government
spokesperson told Geo News via telephone.

"Till yesterday, Jamaat-e-Islami was calling on [ECP

and provincial government] to hold elections, but
now, when the results are coming in, the party's now
talking about protests," he said.

Later in a statement, Wahab also expressed

concerns over the delay in the release of the forms
and asked the election commission to ensure that
they are issued on time. A similar concern was raised
by PPP leader Saeed Ghani.

But at the same time, apart from Ghani and Wahab,

Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain
Shah also claimed that PPP would emerge victorious
and the next mayor of Karachi would be from his
party.

In a letter after the claims emerged, ECP Deputy

Director Sajjad Khattak directed the district
returning officers (DROs) to ensure that the
"complaints of the parties are addressed".

"I am directed to say that this office has received

various complaints from different political parties
and candidates that the presiding officers are not
giving copies of Form 11 and Form 12 to their polling
agents present at polling stations," the letter said.

The deputy director asked the DROs to direct all the

presiding officers under their jurisdiction through
their relevant returning officers to ensure that the
copies of the "forms are accordingly handed over to
all the polling agents present at the polling station.

PTI's 'mayor'

In his tweet, former Sindh governor and PTI leader

Imran Ismail said that his party has emerged
victorious in the polls and thanked the Karachiites
for their "support".

"Imran Khan will announce the next mayor," Ismail

added.

Imran Ismail
@ImranIsmailPTI · Follow
FG
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4:23 PM · Jan 15, 2023

30.5K Reply Share

Read 2.1K replies

PPP’s surprise in Hyderabad

Meanwhile, PPP has won 27 out of 160 union

committees of nine towns of Hyderabad Municipal
Corporation (HMC) while PTI emerged victorious on
nine UCs, JI on one and one independent candidate
won, according to unofficial and inconclusive
results.

For the first time in history, the PPP is now in a

position to win the post of mayor of the second-
largest city of the province; it is already leading on
31 seats of chairmen and vice chairmen. With results
of 58 seats pending, the PPP needs 23 more seats to
have its mayor.

The HMC consists of nine town committees having a

total of 160 union councils with four wards in each
UC.

Likewise, 124 ward councillors from PPP, five from

MQM-P, four from PTI, one each from Qaumi Awami
Tehreek and TLP besides eight independents have
emerged victorious uncontested.

The polling on five seats of chairmen and vice

chairmen and six of general ward members had
been postponed because of the deaths of contesting
candidates, while three seats of general ward
members are vacant with no contestant.

In district Jamshoro, PPP faced some upsets in

Jamshoro, Kotri, Sann and Mehar, while the Mirza
group was completely wiped out from district Badin.

Sources said PPP had maintained its winning streak

across Badin, Matiari, Sajawal and other cities and
towns.

Polling
Around 8,706 polling stations were set up for the
local body polls with 1,204 for males and 1,170 for
females in the two divisions — Karachi and
Hyderabad. Out of the total polling station, over
8,000 were declared as “sensitive” or “highly
sensitive.”

It is pertinent to mention here that 830 candidates

— seven in Karachi and 823 in Hyderabad — have
been elected unopposed in the two divisions.

A voter casting her vote at a polling station for the local body
election in Hyderabad on January 15, 2023. — INP

In Hyderabad, 6,774 candidates contested for 1,675

seats of chairmen, vice chairmen of union
councils/union committees, and the general wards.

While in Karachi, 9,058 candidates are in the race

for 246 seats of chairman, vice chairman, and
general member.

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