History made as PPP’s Murtaza elected Karachi mayor

KARACHI: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) got its first elected mayor of Karachi, Murtaza Wahab, in the mayoral election held at the Arts Council of Pakistan on Thursday through a show of hands.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had changed the location of mayoral polls from the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) City Council, where such polls are held traditionally, to the auditorium of the Arts Council of Pakistan due to cyclone warning.

ECP Returning Officer Nazar Abbas announced that PPP’s Wahab was elected as mayor of Karachi while Salman Abdullah was deputy mayor. Both bagged 173 votes each, whereas the runner-up candidate was the Jamaat-e-Islami’s Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, who obtained 160 votes. Advocate Saifuddin of the JI bagged 160 votes for the slot of deputy mayor.

As many as 32 members were absent, out of which 31 were from the Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and one from the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP). PTI’s incarcerated candidate Firdous Shamim Naqvi, who was brought from jail, did not cast his vote.

Speaking to the media, Naqvi said he abstained from voting because the presiding officer told him that he would lose his provincial assembly seat if he cast a vote for the KMC City Council.

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

The second and third largest parties in the city council are the JI and PTI, with 130 and 63 seats, respectively. As the PTI has supported the JI, their combined votes appeared to be 193, which was more than the simple majority in the house of 367 members. However, a forward bloc emerged within the PTI, and they abstained from voting, remaining absent during the polling. Due to this, JI’s Naeem secured 160 votes, while Wahab emerged victorious with 173.

According to the entry register, 303 elected members reached the polling station and 33 were absent. Three elected members of the PTI arrested following the May 9 mayhem were brought in an armoured personnel carrier.

The mayor-elect did not contest the local government polls from any union committee of the city but was directly elected by the votes of elected union committee chairmen. An amendment in this regard was passed under the Sindh Local Government Act 2013’s Section 18(b), which talks about the appointment of mayor and deputy mayor and chairman and vice chairman. The law says metropolitan corporation, town municipal corporation, municipal corporation and town committee shall elect any person as a mayor and deputy mayor, chairman and vice chairman by show of hands.

However, the section further says that any person so elected as mayor and deputy mayor, chairman and vice chairman of the council “shall not continue to hold the said office unless he is elected as a member of the respective council within a period of six months of taking the oath of office”. This means Wahab will have to contest a poll from any union committee of the city to continue as mayor.

The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Karachi, has rejected the results of mayoral elections over unconstitutional and undemocratic conduct on the part of Pakistan Peoples Party government in Sindh as it didn’t produce 31 elected UC chairmen belonging to the PTI despite court orders.

Addressing the media here on Thursday, JI Karachi Ameer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman announced observing a black day today on the appeal of JI Pakistan Ameer Sirajul Haq as the party decided to observe protest across the country.

Rehman said the JI would announce its future course of action today (June 16) after holding the protest. He said June 15, 2023 was the worst day in the democratic history of the country. “The PPP killed democracy by snatching the mandate of Karachiites with the help of state machinery and the Election Commission of Pakistan.”

The JI leader said all the 130 UC chairmen belonging to the JI participated in the mayoral election, whereas 31 elected representatives, belonging to the PTI including two women who had been abducted earlier, were not produced in the city council despite court orders.

He demanded that the authorities declare the poll null and void and issue a renewed schedule for the mayoral election after ensuring fair polls. He made it clear that the Pakistan Peoples Party had not won but captured the city council for the time being.

He told the PPP not to impose a mayor on 35 million Karachiites in a wicked manner. He asked party workers to gear up for a fresh and prolonged struggle against fascism and feudalism to restore democracy in its true spirit.

Talking about Thursday’s events, Naeemur Rehman said peaceful JI workers were attacked by PPP goons under the patronage of the Sindh Police. They were pelted with stones and baton-charged. He called for releasing all the arrested JI workers.

Meanwhile, PPP Chairman and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has made a promise to the people of Pakistan and Karachi that besides Pakistan, the development of Karachi is now his responsibility, with which the progress of the whole country is connected. “The PPP approach is that it is its responsibility to take care of the whole of Pakistan and I promise, together with the people, we will ensure the development of Karachi and ensure the progress of the whole of Pakistan,” he vowed in his video message shared on Twitter while extending congratulations to the newly-elected heads and deputy heads of local bodies from Karachi to Kashmore on their historic success.

Former president Asif Ali Zardari, while congratulating Murtaza Wahab and Salman Abdullah, said the elected local government representatives belonging to the party should keep the doors of their offices open to the public. He directed PPP local bodies representatives to start their work today. He said the PPP considered public service a worship.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued by the PTI Sindh, the party leaders rejected the allegedly rigged mayoral election. They announced taking legal action against those who disregarded the party instructions. They accused the PPP of employing tactics such as horse trading, arrests and threats against the PTI members to secure victory in the mayoral election. They claimed that the PPP detained the PTI members in a safe house.

In a separate statement, Haleem Adil Sheikh, PTI president and opposition leader in Sindh Assembly, denounced the alleged manipulation of democracy in Karachi and Hyderabad. He accused the PPP of violating court orders and winning local body elections through hooliganism. He asserted that the people of Karachi were dissatisfied with the PPP’s performance.

Sindh PTI President Haleem Adil Sheikh formed an 11-member investigation committee for PTI City Council members not showing up in the mayoral election. A notification for the committee was issued by Sindh PTI General Secretary Advocate Ali Palh. The committee has been tasked with submitting a report to the provincial chief of the PTI by 5 pm today (Friday) on why many PTI members did not attend the mayoral election.