Winning Mirpurkhas, MQM also installs mayor in HMC

PPP clinches chairmen, vice-chairmen posts in Tando Allahyar, Benazirabad and Tando Jam

HYDERABAD: While the Muttahida Qaumi Movement secured victory in the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (HMC) and Mirpurkhas Municipal Committee, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) clinched the chairmen and vice-chairmen posts in the municipal committees of Tando Allayhar and Benazirabad districts as well as the Tando Jam Municipal Committee in Hyderabad.

Tables were turned in Badin where former PPP stalwart-turned-adversary Zulfiqar Mirza lost the District Council. The PPP faced off MQM in municipal bodies of Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Tando Allahyar and Benazirabad districts.

MQM panics in Hyderabad

The voting for HMC began almost 70 minutes late as the scheduled time was 9am, unnerving the MQM's councillors who were wary after the developments of the last two days. Although Tuesday's announcement by MQM leader Farooq Sattar about a power transition within the party addressed the anxiety about the mayoral vote, the delay reanimated the fears.

"The returning officer's [Qamar Shaikh] phone is switched off. The district election commissioner says he handed over the ballot papers two days ago," said MQM's Syed Tayyab Hussain, who has been elected mayor of the HMC, his countenance unable to conceal his perplexity. Hussain and his deputy mayor, Suhail Mashhadi, received 111 votes while 27 were cast for PPP's Allah Bux alias Pasha Qazi and Hassan Jatoi.

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah took notice of the situation and sent Hyderabad commissioner Qazi Shahid Pervez to Jinnah Hall where the voting was scheduled. "The RO says he was attending a hearing in the Sindh High Court due to which he reached late," the commissioner told the media.

Inside the hall, the supporters of PPP and MQM exchanged heated slogans. "Girti hui deevaar ko aik dhaka aur do [One more push to the falling wall]," chanted MQM's councillors, to which PPP responded with 'Aaj to ho ga Bhutto, Bhutto [Today, it is only Bhutto, Bhutto]'.

Mirpurkhas and Badin

With its councillors double in number, MQM was destined to win Mirpurkhas Municipal Committee. However, the party gave a blow to the PPP by snatching Jhudo Town Committee with the support of some defecting councillors of the PPP.

Another setback occurred in Badin where Mirza made an electoral record by denying the PPP a sweeping victory. Mirza's son, Muhammad Hassam Mirza, was defeated by a margin of just five votes by the PPP's Muhammad Asghar Halepoto on the seat of Badin District Council chairman. The latter bagged 51 votes out of the total 98, two of which were declared invalid.

In the former stronghold of Pakistan Muslim League - Functional (PML-F), the PPP's contestants for chairman and vice-chairman of Sanghar District Council, Khadim Hussain Rind and Jamaluddin Arain, romped home to a win. Their opponents, Khuda Bux Dars and Waqar Hussain Jatt, secured only 36 votes against 64 of the winning side.

But in Sanghar's Tando Adam taluka, the PPP faced a less expected defeat from the candidates of Awami Ittehad for chairman and vice-chairman of municipal committee. The coalition consists of a splinter group of the PPP, PML-F, MQM and Jamaat-e-Islami. The coalition bagged 21 votes out of 32. The PPP's 22 councillors in Tando Adam divided into two groups. The Dero group, which has nine votes, sided with the alliance.

Meanwhile, the PPP's Dr Ghulam Hyder Samejo and Karani Singh Sodho were also elected by a huge margin against their opponents from the influential Arbab family-led Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz in Tharparkar District Council. From the 91 votes that were cast, Samejo polled 74.

The PPP completed its triumph in Benazirabad by clinching the municipal committee in the electoral battle against the MQM by 42 to 18 votes. The party had already won unopposed the District Council and eight town committees in Benazirabad.

PPP also won the District Councils in Jamshoro, Mirpurkhas, Tando Allahyar, Matiari, Sujawal, Tando Muhammad Khan and Umerkot districts besides many municipal and town committees.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2016.