Karachi Mayor Poll: PTI announces support to JI mayor candidate

KARACHI: In a major development in city’s local politics, PTI has announced to support the Jamaat Islami’s candidate for Karachi’s mayor, ARY News reported on Saturday.

PTI, the third largest party in the city council with 43 seats, has announced its backing for the JI candidate.

Jamaat Islami, second in strength in Karachi’s municipal council with 87 seats in the house, has claimed mayorship of the city with Hafiz Naeemur Rehman as the party’s candidate.

The JI could conveniently grab the prized post of mayor with support from the PTI.

PTI Karachi has alleged that the People’s Party, the single largest group in the city council with 104 members, has been involved in the pre-poll rigging in the electoral process.

“The PPP abducting elected councilors with the help of Sindh Police,” the PTI alleged.

“People’s Party, which was escaping from local government polls, now wants the election of mayor in hurry,” PTI stated. “Local representatives being kidnapped before oath taking, the party has knocked the door of the court over the matter,” PTI said.

“The mayor should be elected in a transparent manner, the PPP has opted for election of mayor from the backdoor,” PTI further alleged.

“The People’s Party as well as the MQM, don’t want acceptance of the people’s mandate,” it alleged.

It is to be mentioned here that with the weightage of the PTI, the JI could form the city government, their votes would add up to 130, and they would have sufficient seats to elect a mayor.

The PPP, with the support of the MQM-P and the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) passed a key amendment to the Local Government Act in the Sindh Assembly, paving the way for former administrator Murtaza Wahab to become mayor. The new amendment allows the mayor to get elected to a UC seat within six months of the polls.