Metropolitan Corporation: PML-N wins 18 reserved seats, PTI takes nine

Sheikh Ansar Aziz, PML-N’s expected mayoral candidate, elected on technocrat seat

ISLAMABAD:

The ruling PML-N on Saturday won 18 out of the total 27 reserved seats of the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation. PTI picked the remaining nine.

Sheikh Ansar Aziz, a PML-N candidate on a technocrat seat who is also tipped to be the party’s candidate for mayor, won 31 votes, beating PTI’s Nadir Zaib, who got 19.



All 50 union council chairmen cast votes to elect 17 women, 3 youth, 3 minority, 3 worker members, and one technocrat member of the corporation on reserved seats. The ruling party won 11 women seats and two each of youth, minority and worker seats, as well as the technocrat slot.

No other party fielded any candidate for reserved seats.

Polling was held at Islamabad Model College for Boys, F-8/4. Though polling was to be held from 9am to 5pm, all votes had been cast by around 2:30pm.

According to a notification issued by the presiding officer, two ballots were rejected.



Sheikh Ansar Aziz is likely to be the ruling party’s mayoral candidate as well. A member of the central working committee of the PML-N, Aziz is a businessman from Sargodha who lives in Islamabad. He has enjoyed a long association with the PML-N iand is said to be close to the PM.

The Election Commission of Pakistan had appointed Chaudhry Aleem Shahab as district returning officer and Farasat Ali Khan returning officer for elections on reserved seats.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2016.