Leftover seats: By-polls on LG seats conducted peacefully in parts of Sindh

Results unlikely to have effect on overall structure of the LG setup in any one district

SUKKUR/ HYDERABAD: The process of by-elections on over 100 seats left out from the second phase of the local government elections, as well as around 18 UCs from the first phase, was completed peacefully on Thursday.

The polls took place in nine districts of Hyderabad, Mipurkhas and Nawabshah divisions on the seats on which they were postponed during the November 19 local government elections. In Upper Sindh, the by-polls were conducted in union councils of seven districts, including Ghotki, Jacobabad, Kashmore-Kandhkot, Shikarpur, Khairpur, Naushero Feroz and Kamber-Shahdadkot.

Lower Sindh

"The polling process is progressing peacefully. Rangers have been deployed inside and outside the polling stations," said the regional election commissioner of Hyderabad, who is also the District Returning Officer (DRO) of Hyderabad, Aijaz Anwar Chohan, during a visit to a polling station.

Sixteen seats of chairmen and vice-chairmen, 15 of district council members, 61 of general councillors, 21 ward members of town committees and one ward member of a municipal committee were up for contest.



Of the 114 seats, 28 are in Naushero Feroze, 26 in Mirpurkhas, 24 in Tharparkar, 22 in Hyderabad, five each in Dadu and Sujawal, two in Umerkot and one each in Thatta and Tando Allahyar.

After the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) postponed elections in Sanghar and Badin districts due to security reasons, Tharparkar was the only district in lower Sindh where there were security concerns. However, the polling process culminated peacefully for all the 24 seats being contested. Around 23 polling stations were set up in the district.

Initial results have put the PPP in the lead in a majority of the union councils. The party is already in a position to form the district council governments in 13 of the 14 districts that went to polls on Nov 19. Having won 10 municipal committees and 50 town committees, the party is likely to add four more town committees to its tally after Thursday's elections.

Meanwhile in Hyderabad, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement secured one more seat, UC 8, to take its total to 78 in the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation which consists of 96 union committees. The PPP also won UC-53 of the HMC in the by-polls. Over 26,000 voters were registered to vote for the 22 seats in Hyderabad. Thirty polling stations were set up in the district.

Upper Sindh

Overall, the polling process was relatively peaceful across the districts on Thursday. The only exceptions were Union Councils Mithiani and Halani in district Naushero-Feroze, where the workers of rival parties clashed on two different polling stations. In Mithiani, two men were injured in the clash. In Halani, a dispute broke out between female supporters, but no injuries were reported as the authorities managed to assuage the situation in time.

Meanwhile, in the Thull taluka of Jacobabad district, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam - Fazlur Rehman group and the Qaumi Awami Tehreek boycotted the by-polls, accusing the polling staff and the DRO of supporting the PPP. In the same taluka, assistant presiding officer, Ghulam Sarwar Soomro, was arrested from UC Meeral for stamping ballot papers on his own. The tensest area in Upper Sindh was Khairpur, where twelve people had died in an armed clash between the workers of PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League - Functional. Fortunately, no untoward incident was reported this time.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2015.