With most seats in CBC, PTI likely to dominate its affairs

MQM emerges as the most popular party in cantonment elections across Sindh

KARACHI: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has managed to secure the most seats in Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) during Saturday’s local government elections.

Securing four out of 10 seats, the PTI is likely to achieve the position of the vice-president of the cantonment board. The Pakistan Peoples Party managed to get three seats in CBC, followed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) with two seats. Jamaat-e-Islami only managed to secure one seat in Ward No. 8.



The official results of the cantonment elections were announced on Tuesday with the MQM clinging the most seats across the province. Out of the 44 seats in Sindh, the MQM managed to win 19 of them.

Alliance in Clifton

With the official results out, the PTI is eyeing the position of the vice-president in the CBC. “We are consulting different political parties including the MQM and the PPP to form an alliance to get the post of the vice-president,” said a PTI official on the condition of anonymity.



“The consultation is in its initial stages,” he said. “If MQM agrees, it will be the first time that the MQM will be supporting us for the reserve seats and the post of vice-president.” He believed that they will be able to solve several lingering issues in the CBC jurisdiction if they secure this post.

What’s next?

According to the cantonment act, elected and nominated representatives of the board will elect their vice-president after balloting. The process for the elections on the two reserved seats, followed by the elections for the vice-president will start within a week, said the CEO of CBC, Shahrome Safdar Khattak.



“The process will be the same,” he said. The candidates for the reserved seats will submit their papers that will be scrutinised. After that, the elected representatives will elect two more persons for the seats of minorities and women, he said. “The process will start within a week and hopefully will be completed within 45 days,” he said.

At the same time, the present chief of CBC, Brigadier Farrukh, will nominate 12 people, after which the quorum of the board will be complete. “We hope the elected officials along with the nominated representatives take care of the cantonment affairs appropriately,” he added.

Cantonment act

According to the Cantonment act, the board president is the station commander, a serving officer of the armed forces, who is Brigadier Farrukh in the case of CBC. With 10 elected seats and two reserved seats, the number of civilian representatives in the CBC is 12. Meanwhile, the 12 nominated seats are filled up by serving officers of the armed forces. This, combined with the post of the president, makes the elected representatives a minority in the board. The act also gives veto powers to the board president.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 29^th, 2015.