Tug of war: PPP, MQM still at odds over delimitation process

Regional planner says manner in which the UCs have been drawn up are against the by-laws of the EC itself

KARACHI:

Local body elections in Sindh have been plagued by numerous delays and now finally the second phase is set to be held in January but the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), who are part of the coalition at the centre, are yet to see eye-to-eye regarding the delimitation process.

The MQM has already rejected the delimitations held by the PPP led Sindh government and the Election Commission (EC) in Karachi and has termed the process as unfair. However, it is not just MQM which is not satisfied with the delimitations but other political parties and independent observers have criticised the process as well. In this regard, Researcher and Regional Planner, Dr Syed Nawaz-ul-Huda, alleged that the PPP had engaged in gerrymandering in cahoots with the EC.

“Gerrymandering is to manipulate boundaries of electoral constituencies to benefit one party, which is the PPP in this case,” opined Dr Huda. Wherever the PPP has influence and a vote-bank, the number of Union Councils (UCs), contrary to the population, are higher as opposed to the areas where the PPP does not enjoy support, as per Dr Huda. “For instance, 8 UCs have been formed for Organi Town which has a population of about 700,000. In contrast, Mominabad Town which has a population of roughly 471,000 has been allocated UCs.” The regional planner further said that the manner in which the UCs have been drawn up are against the by-laws of the EC itself.

“UCs have been formed by crossing the Green Line at different places in District Central and have been formed by crossing Rashid Minhas Road in District East. All these steps indicate that the ruling party wants to benefit itself to the max,” remarked Dr Huda, adding that the EC has stood by and let the illegalities happen. Advisor to Sindh’s Chief Minister (CM), Waqar Mehdi, when asked about the allegations, denied any wrongdoing on the part of the PPP or the EC.

“The EC is an independent institution which has carried out the delimitations at its own discretion. The PPP or Sindh government have not put any sort of pressure on them. We only fixed the population standard for the UCs, which is about 60,000 to 75,000 people, because this is the legal right of the provincial government,” explained Mehdi. He further said that those who were opposed to the delimitations had approached the courts already and had been told that the local body elections should be held as per the current delimitations.

However, sources within the MQM and PPP told the Express Tribune that the top leadership of both the parties are currently discussing the re-delimitation of local body constituencies on a fair basis. They further disclosed that if both parties reach a conclusion and the EC is in agreement with the formation of constituencies then the local bodies elections to be held on January 15 would be delayed by a further 2 to 3 months. Mehdi, the CM’s Advisor, was asked about these developments.

“The local body elections will be held on time. I do not have any knowledge of whether there have been any discussions regarding delimitation,” he replied. Therefore, the Express Tribune contacted provincial ministers Saeed Ghani and Nasir Hussain Shah as well as MQM leader Waseem Akhtar to get an update on the local bodies election but did not hear back from them. The Express Tribune also contacted the Spokesperson for the EC but did not hear back from him either.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2022.