Redrawing constituencies: ‘Undo all changes after 2002’

Parties submit recommendations to election commission, meeting Monday’s deadline.

KARACHI:

Several political parties submitted their proposals for the redrawing of constituencies in Karachi, meeting the deadline on Monday.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and others submitted their proposals to the provincial election commission, following the Supreme Court decision.

In their proposals, the parties demanded the election commission to undo all the changes that were made to the electoral system in 2002. For the general election seats, all constituencies should be in a sequential order, and should not be invaded by outcast areas, which were annexed before the 2002 elections, they suggested.

In their proposals, the PPP and ANP leaders, both, said that they have suffered the most since those areas, in which they have a stronger base, were infiltrated by outside votes.

PPP leaders said they have proposed the election commission delete the ‘Burnes Road’ constituency and restore the original one where MQM MPA Shaikh Moqueem Alam won. “Burnes Road area influenced my vote and I lost by only 469 votes,” said PPP Karachi division general secretary Najmi Alam. ANP leader Bashir Jan said that that NA-241 SITE area is dominated by their voters, but its two union councils including UC-8 Pirababad and UC-9 Islamia Colony were shifted to Orangi town to affect their votes.

PTI has recommended that all 20 National Assembly and 42 provincial assembly seats in Karachi should be divided and delimited on the basis of 18 towns and six cantonment areas.  “We have suggested that all constituencies should be equal in population,” said PTI Sindh general secretary Hafeezuddin Advocate.



Meanwhile, the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) has yet to submit its formal proposal. Party leaders, Saleem Zia and Irfaullan Marwat, complained, however, that one of their union councils, Chanesar Goth, was merged with another area in district east.

Suggestions on verification of electoral rolls

The election commission should register all voters in Karachi by their present addresses to do away with the confusion once and for all, suggested Taj Haider, the general secretary of PPP Sindh chapter, in a letter addressed to the chief election commissioner, Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim on Monday. The letter outlined different proposals to carry out the door-to-door verification of electoral rolls in view of the Supreme Court’s judgment.

It must be ensured that every residential unit in Karachi is visited by the verification team, he suggested. The election commission should advertise the names of verifying team members, the contact number of team leaders, and the date and timings of their visit. “The teams should visit the residences on holidays or after working hours when male family members are at home,” Haider recommended.

Meanwhile, six political parties have submitted a joint application to the chief election commissioner accusing the Sindh election commissioner of favouritism.

The plea submitted against Sono Khan Baloch by Jamaat-e-Islami, PML-N, PTI, Sunni Tehreek, Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam, Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Pakistan accuses the official of supporting a political party. Baloch refuted, however, all allegations against him.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2012.