Reserved LG seats: Ruling party on course for landslide win

PML-N bags 42 of the 45 reserved seats for women and minorities in Lahore Metropolitan Corporation

LAHORE: The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz swept the final phase of the local government elections in Lahore, winning 42 of the 45 reserved seats up for grabs on Tuesday.

Polling for reserved seats of women, minorities, technocrats, workers/farmers and youths in municipal corporations and metropolitan corporations in Punjab were held on Tuesday. The election commission will formally announce the results on November 30.

Nearly after a decade, the Town Hall resounded with drumbeats and political slogans on Tuesday. Party workers were seen dancing to the beats with activists shouting slogans in favour of their parties and to buck up their voters.

According to unofficial results, 42 candidates of PML-N were elected for the Lahore Metropolitan Corporation with the ruling party-backed candidates winning 24 out of the 25 reserved seats for women. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Aneela Sajid Baig managed to win the one remaining seat.

The PML-N candidates also clean swept the reserved seats for minorities by winning all 10 seats.

Thirty candidates took part in elections on 25 reserved seats for women while 16 candidates were in the run for 10 reserved seats for minorities. Out of the total 274 union council chairmen, 272 used their right of franchise while two could not take part in the process.

Unofficial results show PML-N-backed Ahmad Saeed and Sheraz Bashir have been elected unopposed on reserved seats for youth.

Col (retd) Mubashir Javed, Chaudhry Riaz Akhtar and Mian Muhammad Saleem have been elected unopposed on reserved seats for technocrats.

The reserved seats for workers have been bagged by PML-N’s Nazir Ahmad Swati, Azhar Farooqi, Haji Zahoor Ahmad, Husnain Haider Kazmi and Khawar Hussain.

The seats for non-Muslim were won by PML-N-backed Iffat Naeem, Hadayat Mashi, Shaukat Lal Mashi, Rafaqat Mashi, Shahzad Mahotara, Sunil Gulzar, Shahzad Mashi, Shahid Malik, Faryad Bhatti and Sarfraz Mashi.

PML-N nominated Shama Ansar, Fareeha Zahid, Rehana Khanum, Fozia Safdar, Azhara Asif Iqbal, Farkhanda Malik, Mumtaz Begum, Uzma Nazir, Kunawal Pervaiz, Sumera Amjad, Zarqa Javed, Shahida Riaz, Qamar Saleem, Ghazala Nusrat Baig, Imrana Ikram, Nasreen Bano, Samrah Nazir, Rakshanda Asif, Khadija Hassan, Tahira Aziz, Parveen Akhtar and Kousar Javed were elected on the reserved seats for women.

As per the election schedule, the newly elected candidates will take oath of their offices on December 3 while polling on the reserve seats of 182 municipal committees will be held on Wednesday and 4,015 union councils on Saturday (November 19).

Results were still awaited in most of the districts when the newspaper went into print. In Hafizabad, the PML-N bagged 11 of the 16 seats while the PTI managed to win five seats in the election for special seats of the district council.

In Faisalabad, results of polls on 49 reserved seats were awaited after elections concluded peacefully with the ruling party set to win the majority of seats.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2016.