JI won most seats in Karachi local body elections, claims Hafiz Naeem

Our eight seats were given to PPP through rigging, alleges JI Karachi chapter chief

As the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday released the complete results of the local government polls in Karachi, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi chapter chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman claimed that his party won the most seats in the polls.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) emerged as the largest party with 93 seats while Jamat-e-Islami (JI) followed with 86 seats and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) came in third with 40 seats in the local body polls, according to the election watchdog.

Hafiz Naeem said the JI won at least 94 seats in the LB polls and alleged that eight of their seats were given to PPP through rigging.

“We have signed forms 11 of those UCs [union council] results, so total seats that we won so far are 94 while we have applied for recounting on 11 seats,” he wrote on his official Twitter handle.

جماعت اسلامی نے کراچی میں سب سے زیادہ نشستیں حاصل کی ہیں، ہماری8 جیتی ہوئی نشستیں پی پی کو دیدی گئی ہیں، ان یوسیز کے نتائج کے دستخط شدہ فارم 11ہمارےپاس موجود ہیں اس لحاظ سے ہماری اب تک جیتی ہوئی کل سیٹیں 94 ہیں، جبکہ 10 ایسی نشستیں ہیں جن پر ہم نے ری کاؤنٹنگ کی اپیل کردی ہے۔

— Naeem ur Rehman (@NaeemRehmanEngr) January 16, 2023

Earlier, Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Sirajul Haq announced protests in all major cities of the country against alleged rigging attempts in the second phase of local body elections in Sindh.

Read more: PPP emerges as largest party with 93 seats, JI second with 86 in Karachi LB polls

"Currently, JI has emerged as the leading party during the local body elections," Siraj said in a statement.

He said that the results shown by party's polling agents clearly show that JI has secured the majority.

"We believe that the election results of JI as well as other political parties have been altered. I appeal to the masses and workers to stage protests in major cities of the country," he added.

Siraj has also called an emergency meeting of the party on Tuesday in which future strategy about the local body elections in Karachi would be discussed.

Hafiz Naeem claimed that election results were being changed due to rigging and that the party was not provided Forms 11 and 12. He added that the deputy commissioner had called for a recount.

Rehman said that if the results were tampered with, he would stage a sit-in against the theft of Karachi’s mandate.