Six aiming for district council chair

CHINIOT:

Leaders of all three major groups – Qazi, Maulvi and Syed – claim they will win most of the seats in municipal committees and the district council. 

PML-N’s Aftab Harl says candidates supported by the PML-N will sweep the election. However, party high-ups will decide who gets the top-slot on the Chiniot Municipal Committee.

“I cannot disclose the names of candidates we will support for municipal committee chairmanship… there are several candidates aspiring for the slot.”

PTI’s Mian Shaukat Thaheem, too, says they are most likely to win elections in Chiniot City. “We will announce our candidate for chairmanship from among the winning panels.”

Qazi Ali Hassan of PPP says most of the candidates he had fielded had massive support.

Kaleem Ameer of Syed Group too is optimistic and says his group is gunning for district council chairmanship.

Word on the ground is that six candidates, contesting elections in union councils, are gunning for district council chairmanship. These are Mumtaz Hussain Nekokara, who is contesting the elections from Hirsa Sheikh (UC-14) against Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, PTI’s Syed Muhammad Afzaal Shah who is running from UC-15 against Faraz Ahmad Kamoke and Syed Abbas Shah of Rajoa Syedan, son of former MNA Syed Tahir Ali Shah, from Rajoa (UC-21).  Shah’s rival candidate from UC-21 is Syed Sardar Zulfiqar Haidar Shah who is also aiming for district council chairmanship. From Kandiwal (UC-1), Kamran Nassoana, who is contesting the election against Irfan Abbas, and Syed Group candidate Syed Fakhar Ameer, and son-in-law of former PPP MNA Syed Ameer Hussain, who is contesting the election in Hast Khewa (UC-4) have an eye out for chairmanship too.

The district has four municipal committees in the urban area and 39 union councils in rural areas where 178 candidates are contesting the local government elections.

In the rural areas, 661 candidates are contesting the election for 234 councillor seats and 650 candidates for general councillor seats.

For a municipal committee in every ward, there is one councillor seat. Union councils have a chairman and vice chairman panel and every union council has six wards. There are 48 union councils in Chiniot tehsil, 12 in Chenab Nagar tehsil, 11 in Bhowana tehsil and 11 union councils in Lalian tehsil.

There are 308 candidates for the Chiniot Municipal Committee’s 48 wards. There are 53 candidates in the field for the Bhowana Municipal Committee’s 11 wards and 72 candidates for the 11 wards in Lalian Municipal Committee. There are 41 candidates contesting the election in 12 wards of the Chenab Nagar Municipal Committee.

There are 48 wards in Chiniot Municipal Committee where 268 candidates are contesting the election. In the rural areas, there are 13 union councils and 52 panels of chairmen and vice chairmen 156 candidates for the councillor seat.

In Bhowana, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek have fielded candidates for most of the panels.

The majority of candidates for union councils are independents. However, Bibi Bharwana, Maulana Rehmat Ullah and Saqlain Sipra have been working hard on their candidates’ campaigns.

There are 44 candidates for Lalian Municipal Committee’s 11 wards and 26 candidates for Chenab Nagar Municipal Committee’s 12 wards.

Chiniot district has 650,835 voters. The Election Commission of Pakistan has appointed 12 returning officers and Planning and Development Secretary Lieutenant (r) Iftikhar Ali Saho has been appointed district returning officer.

The ECP has set up 571 polling stations with 1,575 polling booths; 571 presiding officers; 1,688 male assistant presiding officers and 1,413 female assistant presiding officers; and 97 male polling officers and 817 female polling officers.

The local administration, in collaboration with the ECP, has finalised a security and administrative plan for the elections.

The police have declared 172 polling stations sensitive and have decided to depute additional force and members of the Elite Force there.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2015.