Residents of the federal capital cast their votes in a polling station on November 30, 2015. PHOTO: EXPRESS
1. Go to your designed polling station, make sure you have your original Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) on you. Voters with expired CNICs are also entitled to cast their votes
The District Municipal Corporation (DMC) is the governing body for each of the six districts in Karachi. Each DMC has a certain number of union committees (UCs) under it.
Each district in Karachi is further divided into Union Committees (UCs), each of which has four wards within it. The chairmen of all the UCs constitute the KMC council, which is a body of elected representatives that meets regularly to pass local laws. The vice-chairmen of the UCs constitute the DMC council in their relevant district.
Wards
Wards are basic electoral units. Each union committee in Karachi is divided into four wards.
2. Take you serial number from the voters’ list at any of the multiple booths set up outside the polling station and wait for your turn
3. On your turn, show your CNIC to the polling officer and give him/her your serial number from the voters’ list
4. The polling officer will go through the list and call out your name. after ticking the serial number, he/she will put indelible ink on your thumb
5. You can then go directly to the presiding officer and show him/her your original CNIC
6. The presiding officer will again ask you for your thumbprint on a form before giving you a ballot paper to cast your vote
7. Before going to cast the vote, make sure that the back of the ballot paper is stamped and signed by the polling staff
8. Cast your vote on the electoral symbol of your preferred candidate, fold the ballot paper and put it in the ballot box
a) If you are a voter in an urban area, you will be stamping on two ballot papers. The green ballot paper is for the chairperson and vice-chairperson of the union committee. The off-white ballot is for the general councillor contesting from your ward.
b) If you are a rural voter, you will be stamping on three ballot papers. The green ballot paper is for the chairperson and vice-chairperson of the union council. The off-white ballot paper is for the general councillor contesting from your ward. The blue ballot paper is for the district council member
The composition
A union committee in an urban area of Karachi has 11 members out of which only six are elected while the remaining five are indirectly elected on reserved seats. The contestable seats include those of the chairman and vice-chairman besides four general councillors, while the reserved seats are for women, labour, minority and youth candidates. The chairman and the vice-chairman will contest the elections as a ‘pair’, which means that one vote will elect two candidates on these seats. The candidates for the four general councillor seats in the four wards will be contesting independently and will be representing individual political parties, or will be independent candidates.
A union council in rural areas has 12 seats, which include seven electable and five reserved seats. The elected seats are for the district council member, the union council chairperson and vice-chairperson, and the general councillors for the wards. Similar to urban areas, the chairperson and vice-chairperson will be contesting as a pair and will be elected through one vote.
Know your constituency
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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.
Read the full story here.
In District Malir, ASWJ shares posters with PPP
In Karachi’s District Malir, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is sharing its posters with the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) formerly known as the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba.
The streets in Muzaffarabad union committee (UC) are dotted with posters and banners with photos of ASWJ leader Aurangzeb Farooqui and PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. According to the election commission records, Maulana Syed Mohiuddin of the ASWJ is contesting the election for UC chairman while Misal Khan of the PPP is contesting for vice-chairman. For the general councillors’ seats in the UC, other religious parties including the JUI have also fielded their candidates.
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District Central: Who will the most literate district in the country vote for?
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Going by these numbers, District Central, which houses the headquarters of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), seems to be a foregone conclusion for the party.
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District East: Will the city’s educational hub make informed decisions tomorrow?
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.
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District West: In Karachi West, few women challenge male hegemony at the grassroots
In Pakistan’s predominantly patriarchal society, the stove is generally associated with the kitchen. On the streets of Karachi’s Mawach Goth, however, it has become a symbol of change.
It is the election symbol of a woman, Shaheena, who is vying for one of the six seats for members of the district council from Karachi West.
Read the full story here.
District South: Lowest number of candidates contesting from district by the sea
District South, the district by the sea, is going to vote for its local government representatives on December 5 with the lowest number of candidates and the second lowest number of voters.
According to the data provided by the Election Commission of Pakistan, the total number of voters in District South is 805,683, with 457,928 males and 347,755 females. Spread over parts of Clifton, Saddar, Lyari and Keamari, the district is home to 31 union committees (UCs).
Read the full story here.
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