Postponed elections: Polling concludes successfully in seven lower Sindh districts
MQM bags UC-13 seat in Karachi, according to unofficial results
A file photo of ballot boxes. PHOTO: REUTERS
HYDERABAD/KARACHI:
Union councils throughout Sindh where local government polls were postponed last month due to complaints against delimitation successfully cast the ballot on Wednesday.
Polling in three municipal committees, seven town committees and 38 union councils (UCs) in seven districts of the province, including Karachi, was completed peacefully barring a few episodes of violence.
Elections were held on vacated seats of deceased local government (LG) councillors in 14 wards, and one seat each of a district council member, chairperson and ward of municipal committee (MC) and town committee (TC) in various districts.
LG polls: Over 40,000 LEA personnel to be deployed in Karachi
At least six persons were injured, including a police DSP, in Tando Allahyar when two opposing groups clashed outside a polling station in Khwaja Ajmer Colony. The main contenders in the fray for the 23-ward MC and four UCs in Tando Allahyar belong to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). The police were unclear as to which group instigated the clash.
The PPP and MQM workers also teased one another with verbal jibes at a polling station in Daur, Nawabshah district where polling took place for ward-43 MC Nawabshah, ward-9, TC Daur and three UCs.
Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, sister of PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, also cast her vote in Nawabshah in the MC’s ward-2. She was accompanied by her aunt MNA Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho and sister Asifa Bhutto Zardari.
In Hyderabad’s Tando Jam MC, PPP and MQM battled for eight wards which were divided in urban and rural areas. The initial vote count put the MQM candidates in lead. The other local councils where polling took place include TC Jamshoro, TC Sann, TC Manjhand, four UCs in Jamshoro, TC Naukot, TC Mirwah, 13 UCs in Mirpurkhas, six UCs in Tharparkar and nine UCs in Noshehro Feroze.
Canvassing for LG polls in Sindh, Punjab ends
MQM victorious in Karachi
In Karachi, MQM won in UC -13, Jamshed Quarters against a vacant seat. According to unofficial results, MQM’s chairman candidate Mohammad Shamim Khan and vice-chairman candidate Mohammad Jamil secured 10,536 votes against Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) candidates Kalimul Haq Usmani and Khurram Rasheed, who bagged only 211 votes.
The JI had not even nominated poling agents in most of polling stations. There were total of 33,953 votes and the turnout was over 30 per cent, according to sources.
There were only three panels contesting the polls, - MQM, JI and Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi. The election was originally delayed due to the demise of Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) candidate Imran Usman before polling day on December 5. The PPP did not have a candidate for the by-polls.
District Returning Officer Asif Jan said there were a total of 20 polling stations in the UC. He said with better security arrangements, the process was peacefully managed.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 31st, 2015.
Union councils throughout Sindh where local government polls were postponed last month due to complaints against delimitation successfully cast the ballot on Wednesday.
Polling in three municipal committees, seven town committees and 38 union councils (UCs) in seven districts of the province, including Karachi, was completed peacefully barring a few episodes of violence.
Elections were held on vacated seats of deceased local government (LG) councillors in 14 wards, and one seat each of a district council member, chairperson and ward of municipal committee (MC) and town committee (TC) in various districts.
LG polls: Over 40,000 LEA personnel to be deployed in Karachi
At least six persons were injured, including a police DSP, in Tando Allahyar when two opposing groups clashed outside a polling station in Khwaja Ajmer Colony. The main contenders in the fray for the 23-ward MC and four UCs in Tando Allahyar belong to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). The police were unclear as to which group instigated the clash.
The PPP and MQM workers also teased one another with verbal jibes at a polling station in Daur, Nawabshah district where polling took place for ward-43 MC Nawabshah, ward-9, TC Daur and three UCs.
Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, sister of PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, also cast her vote in Nawabshah in the MC’s ward-2. She was accompanied by her aunt MNA Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho and sister Asifa Bhutto Zardari.
In Hyderabad’s Tando Jam MC, PPP and MQM battled for eight wards which were divided in urban and rural areas. The initial vote count put the MQM candidates in lead. The other local councils where polling took place include TC Jamshoro, TC Sann, TC Manjhand, four UCs in Jamshoro, TC Naukot, TC Mirwah, 13 UCs in Mirpurkhas, six UCs in Tharparkar and nine UCs in Noshehro Feroze.
Canvassing for LG polls in Sindh, Punjab ends
MQM victorious in Karachi
In Karachi, MQM won in UC -13, Jamshed Quarters against a vacant seat. According to unofficial results, MQM’s chairman candidate Mohammad Shamim Khan and vice-chairman candidate Mohammad Jamil secured 10,536 votes against Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) candidates Kalimul Haq Usmani and Khurram Rasheed, who bagged only 211 votes.
The JI had not even nominated poling agents in most of polling stations. There were total of 33,953 votes and the turnout was over 30 per cent, according to sources.
There were only three panels contesting the polls, - MQM, JI and Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi. The election was originally delayed due to the demise of Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) candidate Imran Usman before polling day on December 5. The PPP did not have a candidate for the by-polls.
District Returning Officer Asif Jan said there were a total of 20 polling stations in the UC. He said with better security arrangements, the process was peacefully managed.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 31st, 2015.