Murtaza Wahab elected Karachi mayor by securing 173 votes

KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Barrister Murtaza Wahab has been elected Karachi mayor after securing 173 through a show of hand, quoting unofficial and unconfirmed results, ARY News reported on Thursday.

JI’s candidate Hafiz Naeemur Rehman secured 160 votes, the unconfirmed and unofficial results showed.

The voting for Karachi mayor and deputy mayor was held at Pakitan Arts Council under strict security. The doors of the Arts Council were closed after 11am.

The mayoral contest was between Wahab and Rehman, as all the other candidates had withdrawn their nomination papers, while Salman Abdullah and Saifuddin of PPP and JI, respectively contested for the post of deputy mayor.

According to the entry register 332 elected members reached the polling station, as 34 members of the KMC failed to reach the Arts Council of Pakistan.

JI raises objection over voting

JI Karachi Ameer and candidate for the post of Karachi mayor, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman raised objections over the voting process.

Naeem in his objection said 34 PTI UC chairmen are missing in the polling process and demanded to ensure their presence in Arts Council.

The ECP after noting the reservation raised by Hafiz Naeemur Rehamn continued with the voting process via a show of hand.

PTI defectors group

Earlier in the day, the PTI defectors held a meeting ahead of the Karachi mayor election to devise a future course of strategy.

According to the details, a meeting of PTI members was held before the election of Karachi’s mayor and deputy mayor, in which 30 defectors members of PTI nominated Asad Aman, Chairman of the PTI Union Council (UC), as their parliamentary leader.

The members maintained that they follow the orders of Asad Aman during the Karachi mayoral election.

Party position

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.