Local govt: Rare PTI, PML-N alliance emerges for Abbottabad mayor polls

Sardar Saeed and Javed Iqbal of the PTI elected unopposed

ABBOTTABAD: Often terming each other as their arch-rivals, the PTI and the PML-N formed a rare alliance to elect the district mayor and deputy mayor in Abbottabad on Thursday.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) nominees Sardar Saeed and Javed Iqbal were elected unopposed as the district Nazim and naib Nazim respectively for what little tenure remains for the local bodies in the province.

The seats had fallen vacant after the resignation of former district Nazim Ali Khan Jadoon who was elected as an MNA from Abbottabad in the July 25 polls. Former naib Nazim Sardar Waqar Nabi had resigned after he opted to contest elections for the provincial assembly from Galiyat.

The Abbottabad district council comprises  79 councillors, of which 45 are directly elected. The remaining are reserved seats. Of the total district councillors, six had tendered their resignations to contest the July 25 elections.

The day-to-day affairs of the Abbottabad district council have suffered over the past two years with proceedings suspended owing to a court case filed against previous district Nazim Sardar Sher Bahadur. The former district Nazim had been accused of defecting from the party on whose ticket he had contested. He was ultimately removed by the court.

Following the court orders, elections saw Jadoon and Nabi take up the mantle of the mayor and deputy mayor of the district. But just two months after they were sworn in, they left their seats to contest the general elections.

Jadoon, though held a meeting with the PML-N K-P General Secretary Murtaza Javed Abbasi and other PML-N leaders at the Jadoon House recently where the parties reached an accord.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2018.