Fixing The Six

The results of six disputed seats hamper the talks between the PPP and JI over a possible alliance in Karachi

KARACHI: Despite the passage of two weeks since the much-delayed local bodies elections were held in Sindh on Jan 15, the ice has not melted between the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) over the formation of an alliance in Karachi, primarily due to the dispute over six union council seats which is yet to be resolved by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Both the parties claim that they have won these six seats. The issue is likely to be put to rest on February 2 at the hearing date set by the ECP.

Pakistan’s financial hub is in dire need of an empowered local government to redress its civic issues and numerous other problems relating to governance and development. The last local government, which lasted from 2016 to 2020, was unable to deliver much to the people due to lack of funds available to it amid a tug of war between the ruling PPP and the MQM.

The second phase of local bodies elections were held on 235 union councils (UC) in seven districts of Karachi, out of a total of 246 UCs on January 15. However, voting in the 11 remaining constituencies was postponed due to death of candidates during the past few months, while in one constituency the PPP’s candidate was elected unopposed.

Meanwhile, the PPP had a smooth sailing in Hyderabad where it is in a comfortable position to elect its mayor, perhaps for the first time. However, the party faces a tough competition in Karachi where a neck-and-neck contest was witnessed in the LG polls between JI and the PPP.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) had announced a last-minute boycott of the polls on January 15, which gave considerable space to ther other parties who gained tremendously in the results.

Having said that, as per the earlier predictions, none of the contesting parties were able to gain a simple majority and the analysts predicted a most likely alliance between the PPP and JI to elect the city’s mayor and run the local bodies together.

The final results of the local bodies elections, released last week by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), showed that the Pakistan People’s Party has bagged 91 seats in Karachi and retaining a slight edge over Jamaat-i-Islami who won 85 seats.

The results show that the PPP and JI have almost been at par at the district level. In the seven districts, the PPP won a majority in four districts while the JI emerged victorious in three.

Both the PPP and JI are confident that they will be able to bring their mayor. But the analysts feel that a political alliance between the two parties could be beneficial for Karachi which has suffered beyond words during the past three decades if not more.

“Mayor Karachi will be ours, InshaAllah,” Saeed Ghani, the Sindh government labor minister and President PPP Karachi told BOL Weekly.

“These six seats are ours; we have won these seats. JI has filed complaints on them but the ECP has not issued any order of stay so far.”

But contrary to Ghani’s statement, the fact is that the ECP has held the results of the six seats and is probing the matter. A hearing on the issue was fixed for last Wednesday but the ECP has now re-scheduled it for Feb 2.

Discussing one of the possibilities, Saeed said that the ECP can say that since election tribunals have been formed, they can be approached for these six seats, as normally happens.

“As a last option, a recount of these six seats could be done and we are comfortable with the recount, and have no issues”, Ghani said.

Soon after the January 15 polling and the subsequent results – the PPP was busy celebrating its majority seats in the elections while JI was focusing all its strength to get hold of form 11 of different seats.

“Insha’Allah, the mayor will be from Jamaat-e-Islami,” Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman, President of JI, Karachi told the media in a press conference on Thursday.

“Last Wednesday, the ECP was impressed with the preparation of our case pertaining to the results of the six seats and have assured us that no injustice would be done,” Naeem said.

“The ECP has said that action will be taken against those Returning Officers (RO) and District Returning Officers (DRO) who have indulged in unfair practices  in the LG polls,” Naeem quoted the ECP as saying.

“I appreciate the role of chairman ECP, otherwise these six seats would have been snatched away from us. We have won these seats,” he asserted.

“I am sure that these seats would add to the JI numbers on next hearing,” Naeem said.

You cannot imagine what we have to go through in obtaining in forms 11 from ROs.”

So far, only one meeting has been held between the PPP and JI, when a PPP delegation led by Saeed Ghani visited JI’s Idara-e-Noor-e-Haq, the party’s Karachi head office this month.

However, not much headway was made in the meeting as both sides failed to make any announcement regarding their future political strategy.

“We went to JI to listen to their issues,” Ghani said. “But here has been no follow up of that meeting. We have been repeatedly saying that unless JI sit and talk to us, how can we move forward,” Ghani went on to add.

On the other hand, the PPP has already ruled out any alliance with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) which secured 42 seats in the local bodies’ polls, the party has emerged victorious from Karachi in 2018 general elections securing 14 MNAs and over 20 MPAs seats.

By-Elections on eleven seats

The Election Commission is pondering to hold by- elections on the remaining eleven seats before the mayoral elections, a seasoned politician of Sindh who did not wish to be named, told this scribe.

The Jan 15 local bodies elections could not be held on these eleven seats since the candidates contesting on these seats passed away due to the prolonged delays which saw the local bodies’ elections getting postponed on four previous occasions.

If the elections are held on the eleven seats first, the mayor’s election could be delayed for two to three months, the politician remarked.

Despite repeated attempts, the ECP could not be reached for its version on the schedule of the remaining eleven seats.