JI willing to form alliance, PTI rejects LG polls results

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday rejected the local bodies election results in Karachi and Hyderabad, while Jamat-e-Islami condemned the delay in the release of results but expressed willingness to form an alliance if needed. 

The results continue to come out slowly for the local government elections in Karachi and couldn't be finalised despite over 20 hours since the polling ended on Sunday. 

JI's Karachi chief Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman — who is a contender for the city's mayor office — denounced the delay in the results in a press conference today.

He said that they faced difficulty in acquiring results as the process of receiving Forms 11 and 12 started late on Sunday night.

"We are not getting the results from the returning officers (RO) despite over 18 hours of delay since the conclusion of polling," Rehman said.

He strongly condemned the delay and called on the authorities concerned to stop the ROs who are "trying to change the results". 

Rehman also alleged that over 30 voters' lists were flawed but still a reasonable number of people came out to vote.

He said that a lot of people from the PPP also voted for JI. He further said that his party has won over 100 seats, adding that there is ambiguity on the rest of the seats.

"We contested these elections after hard work and wherever there is a discrepancy, we will expose it," he said.

Rehman added that results in some UCs have been forcibly altered.

JI open to forming alliance

Earlier, speaking during the Geo News programme "Geo Pakistan", Naeem showed an inclination to form an alliance with other political parties if Jamat-e-Islami failed to form the government independently.

Rehman said that his party wants to manage the municipality independently, however, it is open to holding talks with other parties for an alliance.

When asked if he would join the PTI or Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Naeem said that he will hold talks with all the parties for the betterment of Karachi.

"We will try to talk to other parties as we have a mandate, so everyone should respect our mandate," he said.

Naeem also said that the JI emerged as the number one party through hard work, adding that they have received votes from all those belonging to other political parties.

Speaking about the local body election results, the JI president said: "As per our calculation, we have won in over 90 union committees (UCs) and the number is likely to increase to over 100."

Naeem also regretted the efforts made to reduce his party's seats, saying that it should not have been done.

Talking about the future plans for the city, the JI chief said that the first thing his party wants to do is clean Karachi. He said that he will have to talk about the K-IV water project, revise the mass transit system, and solve the problems surrounding the sewerage system.

"We will require the help of federal and provincial governments," he added.

PTI rejects results

Meanwhile, senior PTI leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi questioned the slow release of results despite a lower turnout, saying that his party rejects the election results.

Naqvi said that over 16 hours have passed since polling time but only 40 out of 246 results have been announced, adding that people's lack of interest in the system and democracy is the reason behind the low turnout.

On a question about siding with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM-P) on delimitations and voter list issues, the PTI leader said that the last local government's tenure ended in September 2020, and they could not wait any longer for issues to be resolved. He added that the PTI had reservations but wanted the LG polls to proceed.

He added that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is opposed to them. PTI is at the peak of its popularity, and the LG polls' results do not reflect that, Firdous added.

When asked about a possible coalition with the PPP or JI, the PTI leader said that they would not form a coalition with anyone. He termed the PPP an anti-Karachi and anti-Sindh party, adding that he would personally advise his party to back JI if it emerges as the leading party.