Karachi LG polls: ECP rejects allegations of political parties

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has rejected the rigging allegations in the local government (LG) elections in Karachi and Hyderabad divisions due to delay in results, ARY News reported on Monday.

In a statement, the ECP spokesperson rejected the rigging allegation, saying that the results were timely and correct. “LG polls results should not be compared with general election ones,” the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson informed that each returning officer (RO) had at least five UCs, which “caused a delay in releasing the poll results”.

The electoral watchdog added the results prepared on an excel sheet on computers, reminding critics that there was no result transmission system (RTS) in place during the local government elections.

It pointed out that the results of first phase of local government elections were completed in three days, urging the political parties to avoid such accusations.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) released the complete results of all 235 union councils (UCs) in Karachi Division after the local government (LG) polls.

ARY News took lead in reporting the complete results of Karachi LG polls following the announcement of the election commission.

The latest party position released by the ECP showed Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) with the highest number of seats with 93 in the Karachi Division after the LG polls.

The PPP is followed by 86 seats won by Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) in Karachi LG polls, PTI in the third position with 40 seats, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) with 7 seats, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) with 3, independent candidates with 3 seats and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) with 2 seat.

Hafiz Naeem expresses dissatisfaction on results

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman expressed dissatisfaction on the LG polls’ results released by the ECP. He said that he summoned a meeting and they will approach the EC Sindh today.

He said that JI won the highest number of seats in accordance with Form 11 but the final results showed a reduction of eight seats of the political party. Hafiz Naeem said that JI won overall 94 seats in accordance with Form 11.

Regarding the talks for Karachi mayorship, Hafiz Naeem said that JI will not initiate talks with any political party until its number of seats are not corrected. He added that they defeated PTI in the recent LG polls and PTI accepted the JI’s mandate. Naeem added that JI will definitely hold talks with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.