Polling for chairman’s seat on District East’s UC-13 has been postponed after the demise of PPP candidate. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
District East can be termed the educational hub of the city by virtue of the large number of varsities such as the Karachi University, NED University and Federal Urdu University of Arts and Sciences, located within it. It also houses the meteorological department and other important institutions such as the PCSIR laboratory, besides being home to one of the busiest shopping plazas — Tariq Road.
The district has 1,186,901 registered voters, of whom 658,616 are male and 528,285 are female. It comprises 31 union committees, covering PECHS, Gulshan Town, Mehmoodabad, Azam Basti, Jamshed Quarters, PIB Colony and some areas of Defence View.
Youth and age: Factoring in the youth vote bank
Around 882 candidates are set to contest the elections tomorrow for the 31 seats of chairman, as many of vice-chairman and 124 seats of general councillors.
Initially, the Election Commission of Pakistan had received 1,371 nomination papers from the district, of which 193 were rejected. The tribunal, however, overruled the rejection of 145 of these candidates and declared them eligible to contest the elections. Later, 445 candidates withdrew their nomination papers.
Of the 882 contestants, two MQM candidates, Naveed Ahmed and Malik Yaseen, have been elected unopposed in UC-14 and UC-16, respectively.
Govt urged to hold polls according to SC schedule
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) prominent leaders and former MNAs, Wasim Akhtar and Zareen Majeed, are also contesting elections from this district’s union committees (UC) 11 and 13, respectively. However, the elections in UC-13 for the chairman’s seat have been postponed on account of the death of Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) candidate for chairman, Imran Usman.
Female candidates
A total of 33 women are contesting from District East, of which nine are contesting for the post of vice-chairman, three for chairman and 21 for the seats of general councillors.
In UC-13, Mohajir Qaumi Movement - Haqiqi’s (MQM-H) Lubna Mohiuddin is contesting against the MQM’s Zareen Majeed for the seat of chairman. Sunni Tehreek’s Tanzeela Hussain is contesting for the seat of chairman in UC-2, while Bimla Rosemary of the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz is vying for the seat of vice-chairman in UC-1.
Fresh from the fountain: Youth candidates eyeing over 3,000 LG seats
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Shaheen and Rabia Sultan are contesting for the seats of vice-chairman in UC-7 and UC-26 respectively, while Rifat Saba is contesting for the seat of chairman in UC-28.
Kiran Abdul Raheem is contesting for the seat of vice-chairman on the ticket of MQM-H in UC-11, whereas JI’s Erum Butt is contesting for the vice-chairman’s seat in UC-12. PPP candidate Asma Hasan is contesting for the seat of chairman in UC-18 and independent candidate, Shahida Lako, is contesting for the seat of chairman in UC-30.
Polling stations
The district election authorities have set up 671 polling stations, which will be looked after by nine returning officers. According to the ECP’s data, 2,687 polling booths will be set up, of which 1,344 will be for male and the remaining for females voters. There are 321 highly sensitive and 288 sensitive polling stations in the district.
Presiding officers
On elections day, a total of 5,376 assistant presiding officers will be helping the 672 presiding officers, along with 2,688 polling officers.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 4th, 2015.
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