Karachi Mayor: Only Hafiz Naeem and Murtaza Wahab left in the contest

KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Murtaza Wahab and Jamat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi chief Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman are in one-to-one competition for the office of Karachi Mayor as other candidates have withdrawn from election race, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

According to details, the PPP has filed nomination papers of former Karachi Administrator Murtaza Wahab, while JI fielded its Karachi chief Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman for the office of Karachi Mayor.

PPP’s Najmi Alam has withdrawn his nomination papers for mayor slot while Karam Allah Waqasi and Irshad Shar have also withdrawn from election race for mayor and deputy mayor slot, respectively.

Meanwhile, PPP’s Salman Abdullah Murad and JI’s Saifuddin Advocate will contest for the Karachi Deputy Mayor slot.

‘Procedure for election’

A day earlier, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued the procedure for Karachi mayor and deputy mayor election scheduled to take place on June 15.

According to Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), 366 members of city council will be allowed to enter at 9 am on June 15 and the doors of the polling station will be closed at 10:30 am.

The ECP stated that the votes will be counted through show-of-hand and the candidate who has maximum votes will be declared the mayor and deputy mayor respectively. Whereas, the voting process will not be affected if anyone doesn’t come to cast their vote.

Furthermore, the Art Council Karachi hall has been suggested as a polling station for the election of mayor and deputy mayor however rainwater can block the city hall as a result of expected rainfall.

Party position

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced the results of all the union councils (UCs) of Karachi.

According to details, the PPP emerged as the largest party in the City Council with 104 chairman seats. It later got 34 seats reserved for women, five each for minorities, labour and youth, and one each for disabled and transgender persons. The party has 155 members in total.

Meanwhile, JI won 87 chairman seats in the local government (LG) elections, after which it got 29 reserved seats for women, four reserved seats each for youth, labour and minorities, and one reserved seat each for transgender and disabled persons. The total number of JI in the City Council is 130.

Moreover, the PTI won 43 chairman seats and after getting 14 reserved seats for women and two reserved seats each for youth, labour and minorities, its total number in the City Council is 63.