KARACHI: Sindh Labour and Human Resources Minister, Saeed Ghani, has urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to immediately conduct the election for Karachi’s mayor as the same shouldn’t be deferred till by-polls on 11 vacant union committees in the city.
Speaking at a press conference here at the media cell of Bilawal House on Sunday, the Sindh Labour Minister said the ECP would set a dangerous precedent by deferring the Karachi mayoral election till by-polls on the vacant UCs in the city.
He said that such a decision on the part of the ECP would open such a Pandora’s Box that would create serious problems for forthcoming elections for the top offices of prime minister and chief minister in the country.
He said the house of the City Council would be completed with elections on reserved seats.
He said the PPP’s viewpoint was that after local government elections, polls should immediately be held to fill reserved seats and elect the mayor and chairmen of the municipal agencies in the city.
To a question, Ghani who is also PPP Karachi President said that he was satisfied with the overall conduct of the local government polls in Karachi. “In my entire political career I haven’t seen such peaceful elections as not a single bullet was fired anywhere during the polling,” he said.
He said the next mayor of Karachi would belong to the People’s Party.
He said the PPP had secured victory in the recent local government elections in Karachi on the basis of the votes of the people of the city.
Answering another question, the Sindh Labour Minister told media persons that not a single notification had been issued by the ECP so far to formally declare the result of the local government elections in any union committee of the city.
Responding to another query, He said the People’s Party had no objection to applications filed by the Jamaat-e-Islami for recounting of votes in certain constituencies of the city. “Our demand is that applications filed by our candidates for recounting of votes should be considered in the same manner,” said Ghani.
He said the PPP would contest forthcoming by-elections in nine constituencies of Karachi. He said they wanted that the Jamaat-e-Islami should also contest the same by-polls so that people should come to know about the popularity of both parties in the city. “One should know how many votes Jamaat-e-Islami has secured from the city in all the elections after 2002. He said that no one was expressing surprise at Jamaat-e-Islami securing 86 seats in Karachi while everyone was amazed only at PPP securing victory in the local government elections. He said that one should check the performance of the PPP in the past elections in Karachi before expressing such a surprise.
