LG Polls: PPP leads race as unofficial results pour in

Karachi: The counting of votes in 16 districts of Karachi and Hyderabad in the second phase of local body elections in Sindh were going on and unofficial results started coming after five in the evening on Sunday.

According to details, following are the unofficial results of the elections.

Karachi

Jamaat-e-Islami is ahead in Gulshan Iqbal and North Nazimabad Town. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is leading in 10 seats of Lyari, Baldia and Ibrahim Hydari Town.

In three out of 30 Union Committees (UCs) of Malir District, Chairman and Vice Chairman of PPP were successful. The candidates of Chairman and Vice Chairman of PPP were successful in 1 out of 25 UCs in South District.

Sehwan

PPP won all 15 wards of Sehwan Municipal Committee.

Hyderabad

PPP won 38 out of 160 UCs in the district.

Mehar

In all the 14 wards of Municipal Committee Mehar, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won 9 seats. PPP could win 4 seats. PPP (Shaheed Bhutto) also managed to claim one seat.

Dadu

Out of 24 wards of Municipal Committee, 18 of PPP, three candidates of PTI and 2 independent candidates won. While the elections were stopped due to the death of one candidate.

Matiari

Out of seven wards of town committee, Grand Domestic Alliance (GDA) won four and PPP won three.

Polling for the local body elections started at 8am and continued till 5pm without any break. After 5 o'clock, the voters in the polling station premises were allowed to cast their votes.

Low turnout

Due to the repeated postponement of the election and the uncertainty till the last minute, the turnout was low as expected and very few people came out to cast their votes from morning to afternoon. However, as usual there was some rush in the evening, though it was less than usual.

Decision to not extend polling time

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) rejected the PTI request to extend the polling time.

However, the time was extended for those polling stations where polling started late.

Peaceful conduct

The polling was conducted in a peaceful manner on the whole and there were no major untoward incidents except a few incidents of clash.

A scuffle broke out at Chanisar Goth polling station during which PPP workers allegedly tortured a Jamaat-e-Islami councilor candidate.

During a media talk, Karachi Police Chief Javed Alam Odhu said that he was proud that the local elections were held peacefully, except for minor incidents, no untoward incident took place.

PTI MPA Rabistan Khan arrested

There was a clash between PTI and PPP workers in Gulshan Maymar. The police detained PTI Member of Sindh Assembly Rabistan Khan on the charge of torturing Member of National Assembly (MNA) Shahida Rahmani's son Hilal Rahmani.

On the other hand, Haleem Adil Sheikh alleged that the MNA of PPP and his colleagues attacked the PTI MPA.

Allegations of rigging

The opposition political parties accused the government of rigging and videos also surfaced on social media in this regard.

Former Sindh Governor Imran Ismail said in a press conference at Insaf House Karachi that the ballot papers that were stolen after the polling station will be cast today. If they try to steal the election, we will shut down Karachi.

Information Minister Sharjeel Memon added that PTI has shown the worst terrorism in local body elections in Karachi, condemning the attack by PTI goons on the son of PPP Member of Assembly Shahida Rahmani.

Delay in distribution of polling material

On Saturday, there was a delay in the distribution of polling materials from the dispatch centers established in all the districts of the city. Presiding officers also arrived late at various points. Ballot boxes, ballot paper, ink and other supplies continued to be distributed till evening.

Polling did not take place in 30 seats

Due to the death of 23 candidates and the election of six candidates unopposed in seven districts of Karachi, polling was held on 1200 out of 1230 seats of Chairman, Vice Chairman and Ward Member.

Hundreds of candidates elected unopposed

410 candidates have been elected unopposed in Hyderabad division and 310 in Thatta division whereas 27 candidates have died. After which elections were being held on 1675 seats in the districts of Hyderabad division and 709 seats of all categories in the districts of Thatta division. A total of 17,862 candidates were competing against each other out of which 9,057 candidates were from Karachi, 6,228 from Hyderabad and 2,577 from Thatta division.

Number of voters

The number of voters in Karachi is more than 8.4 million, for which 4990 polling stations were built, of which 3415 were sensitive, 1496 were highly sensitive and 79 had been declared normal, while the seven districts of Karachi Division were divided into 25 towns.

District Central is the largest district with five town and 45 union committees, where the number of registered votes is 2 million 76 thousand 73. East District is the second largest district with 5 towns and 43 union committees and more than 1.4 million voters.

In Korangi, four town and 37 union committees were formed where there were over 1.4 million voters. West District consists of three towns and 33 UCs where 0.9 million voters were registered. There were three towns, 32 UCs in Kemari district where the number of registered voters is 8,44,851.

Similarly, Malir district has 3 towns, 30 UCs and 7,43,205 voters, while South district has 2 towns, 26 union committees and 9,95,054 voters.

According to the data, there were 1040 candidates in Malir, 1450 in Korangi, 1579 in East, 876 in South, 1144 in West, 1781 in Central and 1258 candidates in Kemari district contesting in local body elections.

Closed-circuit Television (CCTV) cameras had also been installed at sensitive and highly sensitive polling stations, for monitoring a control room had also been established.

Political parties could not run an effective election campaign due to the uncertainty in the holding of local government elections. The traditional election campaign remained non-existent.