Know your constituency: Karachi’s newest district doesn’t know its limits yet

This will be the first time Korangi will go to polls as a separate district

KARACHI:

The newly-created Korangi district is set to vote for its representatives in the local government setup amid controversies regarding the delimitations of its boundaries. In fact, Korangi seems to be the most fiercely-contested district in the city and is the only one where not even a single candidate has been elected unopposed.

Since its demarcation as the sixth district of the city in November 2013, it is the first time that Korangi will hold elections in its new capacity. With hardly a few days left to the polls, however, the controversies over its delimitations linger on. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the party that claims to have a strong voter base in the district, has challenged delimitations of some its constituencies in the Sindh High Court.

Voter dynamics

The district comprises urban, rural and industrial areas and houses a mix population of Urdu-speakers, Punjabis, Baloch, Pakthun and Sindhis. Small pockets of immigrant populations, such as Bengalis and Burmese, also live in the area. According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, the district has the third-largest number of constituencies and fourth-largest number of voters for the local bodies’ polls. As many as 237 candidates, both affiliated with political parties and independent, have filed their nomination papers for the 74 seats of chairman and vice-chairman. Another 774 candidates are vying for the 222 posts of general councillors, an official of the Korangi District Municipal Corporation told The Express Tribune. “No candidate has been elected unopposed in this district,” he added.

Constituencies

Each of the union councils (UC) constitutes four wards. The representative of each ward is called a general councillor. The governing board of a UC will constitute 11 members, six of whom, including the chairman, vice-chairman and four general councillors, will be elected through direct polls. The remaining, two women, one youth, one labourer and one minority member, will be nominated by the winning panel. According to the ECP’s statistics, the total numbers of registered voters in the district is 1,183,536, making up 16.7 per cent of the total voters in the city. Of these, 57 per cent are male, while the remaining are female.



Political divisions

Korangi was created through the bifurcation of district East. It has four subdivisions — Korangi Town, Landhi Town, Shah Faisal Town and Model Colony. The MQM boasts the largest vote bank from a majority of these areas, save a few pockets. “Since the Mohajir Qaumi Movement — Haqiqi, the arch rival of the MQM, has resurfaced in the district, and fielded candidates in some constituencies, there are chances of some untoward incidents during the polls,” said an official at the Shah Faisal police station, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “We have deployed extra contingents of police personnel in areas that can potentially be disturbed. During the election campaign, the workers of both parties have come face to face on a number of occasions but nothing untoward has been reported till now,” he added. Other parties that have nominated their candidates in the district are Jamaat-e-Islami which is contesting in coalition with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Muslim League — Nawaz and the Pakistan Sunni Tehreek. The district’s industrial area is one of the largest in the country. According to the Korangi Association of Trade and Industry, there are 372 textile mills, 42 flour mills and two major oil refineries located in the area.

Preparations

For the December 5 elections, 580 polling stations, catering to both male and female voters, will be set up across the district. In each of these polling stations, there will be four booths — two for men and as many for women. For Korangi, the ECP has notified 247 polling stations as most-sensitive and 306 sensitive. Only 27 polling stations in the whole district are being considered normal. Each polling station will be under a presiding officer and there will be eight times as many assistant presiding officers to conduct the polls smoothly. Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st,  2015.