Gerrymandering HMC draws opposition fire

MQM-P Hyderabad chapter says PPP attempting pre-poll rigging by creating new constituencies

HYDERABAD:

The Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (HMC) will consist of nine town municipal corporations (TMC) after approval of extending its jurisdiction to the entire district after the new local government elections. The recommendations in this regard have reportedly been submitted to the Sindh secretary local government, officials told The Express Tribune.

However, the propositions concerning the numbers of TMCs and name of a particular TMC, have elicited disapproval of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and some other stakeholders.

The MQM-P argues that two out of four revenue talukas of Hyderabad, the City and Latifabad talukas, have not been properly represented. Meanwhile, one of the two TMCs based on Qasimabad taluka will carry name of the provincial irrigation minister Jam Khan Shoro's grandfather.

TMCs

Hyderabad Deputy Commissioner of Fuad Ghaffar Soomro has suggested creation of nine TMCs in a letter to the secretary local government. Three of the TMCs will be based on City taluka and two each in Latifabad, Qasimabad and Hyderabad talukas.

Each TMC will consist of 16 union committees (UCs) with an estimated population of around 200,000. The population of a UC will be 13,000.

According to the population census 2017, Hyderabad had a population of 2,199,928 people. The headcount of City taluka was 725,153, Latifabad taluka 703,690, Qasimabad taluka 304,779 and Hyderabad taluka 466,306. While the first three talukas are completely urban, the fourth taluka had a rural population of 373,410. However, the DC contends that the urban expansion which has continued during the last five years after the census has reduced the rural cover to slightly over 200,000.

The TMCs Hosh Muhammad Sheedi, Mian Sarfaraz and Paretabad will be in the revenue jurisdiction of City taluka and Shah Latifabad and Sachal Sarmast TMCs in Latifabad taluka. The TMCs Qasimabad Hussainabad and Karan Khan Shoro will cover Qasimabad taluka and the TMCs Tando Jam and Tando Fazal Hyderabad taluka.

The secretary local government is supposed to forward the proposal to the Election Commission of Pakistan which will carry out the delimitation of the LG constituencies.

MQM-P's Objections

The MQM-P Hyderabad chapter leader MPA Rashid Khilji has blamed the Pakistan Peoples Party for attempting pre-electoral rigging by trying to carve out new LG constituencies which suited the party's electoral ambitions. "Even though we reject the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Act, 2021, the recommendations for creating the nine TMCs is a violation of that act," he argued while talking to The Express Tribune.

According to him, a TMC is supposed to have population of around 200,000 as per the act. By that count both the City and Latifabad taluka should be given at least three TMCs each and the district should have 10 TMCs in total.

"The population of Hyderabad was already undercounted in the 2017 census. We believe back then more than three million souls lived in the city." For Khilji the new shape of the HMC will be tantamount to adding insult to injury because the population density of City and Latifabad talukas, where the people have historically elected MQM-P's lawmakers and legislators, has been dramatically reduced.

He also complained that not only the constituencies have been gerrymandered the people living in the limits of one taluka will be forced to go to the areas in another taluka where the new LG offices will be located. The MPA said the populations of City and Latifabad talukas will be particularly affected as some of their LG offices will be located in Qasimabad and Hyderabad talukas.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 31^st, 2021.