Zubair Qureshi
The majority party in the Metropolitan Corporation of Islamabad (MCI) Pakistan Muslim is all at a loss to field a consensus candidate for the post of the Mayor of Islamabad that is lying vacant since resignation of Sehikh Ansar Aziz on Oct 1, this year.
Deputy Mayors of MCI, all belonging to the PML-N, Azam Khan, Syed Zeeshan Naqvi and Chaudhry Riffat Javed were supposed to contest the election but they were told that only chairmen, vice chairmen and members of union councils (UCs) could contest the polls for the office of mayor.
After Mayor’s resignation, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced to hold the election on Dec 28.
Sources in the local PML-N while talking to Pakistan Observer said on Saturday, so far the party’s local chapter could not decide a candidate as the top three candidates were held ineligible in accordance with Sections 12 and 27 of Local Government Act 2015 for contesting against the vacant seat of mayor.
In the first-ever local government election held in Islamabad on Nov 30, 2015, the PML-N had emerged as the majority party and this happened despite the fact in 2018 general elections, PTI candidates made a clean sweep from the federal capital. Initially, out of the total 79 members of the MCI the PML-N had grabbed 51 against PTI’s 28.
However after the MCI elections, some members from both the sides resigned from their seats to contest other elections.
Former UC chairmen Ali Nawaz Awan and Raja Khurram Nawaz are currently members of National Assembly while Abida Raja has been elected as member of the Punjab Assembly. Currently, the MCI has 70 members (electoral college) with 45 members of PML-N and 25 from PTI. Sources in the PML-N said if the deputy mayors could not get relief from court, the party will have to pick someone from the second tier leadership to contest the election.
An Islamabad High Court bench is likely to take up the writ petition by the three potential candidates for the post of Mayor of Islamabad on Monday (tomorrow) against the ECP’s decision of declaring them ineligible to contest elections.
