Political parties decry delay in Karachi, Hyderabad election results
The Election Commission of Pakistan on Monday released partial results of the local government polls in Karachi, with the Pakistan People’s Party currently in the lead with 93 seats.
The election watchdog received results for 235 seats out of the 253 seats in the Karachi division.
Jamat-e-Islami followed with 86 seats, whereas, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf secured 40 seats. The results for the remaining 11 seats are still pending.
PTI has won 40 seats, PML-N 7 seats, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam and independent candidates with three seats each whereas Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan have a seat each to themselves for now.
The Matiari district was the first to submit its polling results. Regional Election commissioner and District Returning Officer Matiari Syed Nadeem Haider stated that results of all 345 polling stations of 30 Union Councils, six town committees and one municipal committee of Matiari were sent to the drop box of the provincial election commissioner’s office. Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami, PTI and PPP raised questions regarding the delay in the election results and demanded that the results be released soon. PPP Karachi President Saeed Ghani feared that the entire election process might become controversial due to the delay, and urged the Election Commission of Pakistan to finish its work as soon as possible.
JI Karachi leader and mayoral candidate Hafiz Naeemur Rehman claimed that election results were being changed due to rigging and that the party was not provided Forms 11 and 12. He added that the deputy commissioner had called for a recount. Rehman said that if the results were tampered with, he would stage a sit-in against the theft of Karachi’s mandate. PTI workers protested outside the offices of the deputy commissioner west and the district returning officer. The protesters alleged that the police had become former president and PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari’s force and were aiding in changing the election results.
