Wahab, Naeem face off each other today in mayor poll cliffhanger

An intense political theatre will be witnessed at the Arts Council of Pakistan today (Thursday) where the Election Commission of Pakistan will be holding the election for the Karachi mayor and deputy mayor.

The mayoral contest will take place between Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate Barrister Murtaza Wahab and Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) Hafiz Naeemur Rehman as all the other candidates have withdrawn their nomination papers. The respective deputy mayor candidates of the PPP and JI are Salman Abdullah Murad and Saifuddin.

The PPP is the largest party in the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation City Council with 155 seats. However, it is short of a simple majority required to have its mayor elected. The PPP has also secured the support of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam but their combined strength is also short of a simple majority.

The second and third largest parties in the City Council are the JI and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) with 130 and 63 seats respectively. As the PTI has supported the JI, their combined votes appear to be 193, which is more than the simple majority in the House of 367 members. However, with the emergence of a forward bloc within the PTI, the result may go either way. In case Wahab wins, it will most probably result in allegations of horse trading by the JI and PTI and the two parties might approach judiciary to nullify the election.

‘Bring PTI chairmen’

Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has demanded that the authorities ensure free and fair mayoral elections, and produce all the arrested and “abducted” union committee chairmen and other office-bearers belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) so that they can exercise their right to vote on Thursday (today).

Speaking at a press conference at Idara Noor-e-Haq, the JI’s Karachi headquarters, on Wednesday, Rehman also reiterated his offer for an all-inclusive city government. He was flanked by the JI’s candidates for chairmen and vice-chairmen for all towns, including those elected unopposed. He demanded that the government release all those elected UC chairmen and other office-bearers who had been arrested or “abducted” on political grounds on one pretext or another.

Talking about numbers, he said the JI and the PTI collectively have 193 votes in the City Council, while the PPP and their coalition partners have 173, so the election in the City Council would merely be a ceremonial activity. He also said the JI has won six towns unopposed, the party has majority in another three towns, while the issue of six union councils is pending before election tribunals. He expressed hope that justice would prevail and the JI would win all the cases.

He clarified that PTI Chairman Imran Khan and the party’s chain of command have reiterated their resolve to support the JI in the City Council. He said that according to the constitution, the law and the Supreme Court’s judgment, if someone exercises their right to vote contrary to their party’s policy, they would be disqualified and their votes would not be counted, so there is no point in pressurising the elected UC chairmen.

He again extended an olive branch to the Pakistan People Party (PPP) by reiterating his offer to work together in the greater interest of Karachi while keeping their political and ideological differences aside, but on the condition of accepting the mandate of the people of Karachi.

Rehman said that if use of unfair means was not stopped in the mayoral election, it would be better that the local government elections were declared null and void.

Haleem’s reminder

The leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly and Sindh Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) president, Haleem Adil Sheikh, in a video statement issued on Wednesday said that the PTI has announced unconditional support for the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) in the elections for the Karachi mayor and deputy mayor occurring today (Thursday).

He said the mayoral election would prove whether or not the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) believed in horse trading as the votes of the PPP and its allies in the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation City Council were insufficient to have their mayor elected.

He claimed that the PPP and its allies had 169 votes while the JI and PTI had 192 votes, while 184 votes were required to win the mayoral polls.

Sheikh said if the horse-trading happened in the election, the PPP would be exposed. He reminded the PTI City Council members that they had been elected on the party ticket and their seat in the City Council was the party’s trust. “If I didn't have a PTI ticket, I couldn't even become a councillor. This seat is the trust of the party. Hard times will pass. No one should betray Imran Khan under pressure. The nation will never forgive traitors,” the opposition leader said.

JUI-F won't support JI

The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) cannot support a candidate in the mayoral election who is has the support of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Various Sindh leaders of the JUI-F said this in a joint statement issued on Wednesday. They claimed that initially they were inclined towards supporting the Jamaat-e-Islami candidate (JI), Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, for the Karachi mayor post, but the JUI-F had decided not to support him because he met Imran Khan Niazi to get the PTI’s support.

A few days ago, the leadership of both the JI and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had contacted the JUI-F leadership for support in the mayoral election.

Citing some religious reasons for not supporting the PTI, the JUI-F leaders added that the JI’s mayoral candidate should know that the PTI wanted to pledge the country to the IMF.

The statement read that after long consideration, the JUI-F had decided that it could not support Rehman in such circumstances. The JUI-F leaders stated that their party had inked an agreement with the PPP, after which the former’s members in the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation City Council would vote for the latter’s candidates in the election for the mayor and deputy mayor of Karachi.