Karachi LG polls: PTI, PPP secure one seat each in vote recount

KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) have secured one Union Council (UC) seat in Karachi local government (LG) elections following a vote recount by Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), ARY News reported on Saturday.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued the decision and announced the victory of PTI and PPP in two union councils (UCs) of Karachi – UC-8 Safoora Town in District East and UC-4 Gadap Town in District Malir.

In a statement, PTI leader Arsalan Taj accused the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) of conniving with the ruling PPP in changing the results of the seats. “The people’s mandate was robbed with the use of state machinery,” he added.

Meanwhile, the PPP secured seats of UC chairman and vice chairman in Gadap Town – which was earlier won by Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). The JI candidate lost by 166 votes in the vote recount.

It is pertinent to mention here that Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has lost two union council seats so far in vote recount. Earlier, the Jamaat-e-Islami lost the union council seat in UC-6 Safoora Town in District East.

The PPP emerged as the single largest party after the local government (LG) elections in Karachi held on January 15 followed by the Jamaat-e-Islami. The ECP is yet to hold polling on the remaining 11 union councils in Karachi to complete the electoral process.