KARACHI: Many people were surprised on Monday when the results of local body polls in Karachi and Hyderabad, which came out almost 29 hours late, showed that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) won both cities.
While the party won most of the votes in Hyderabad, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) lost a close contest in Karachi to the PPP, which controls Sindh.
The post-voting electoral process remained in doubt even after the complete Karachi results were announced, with contesting parties and candidates raising concerns about delayed results, the absence of required documents for polling agents, and a sluggish response from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to complaints.
Official results
The ECP announced that the PPP won 94 seats in Karachi, including one elected without opposition. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) received 40 seats, while the JI received 86 seats.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Haqeeqi won one seat, the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam won three, the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) won two, and the Pakistan Muslim League-N won seven seats.
Elections were held on 235 of the 246 union councils (UC) in seven Karachi districts on January 15. The deaths of candidates over the past few months have delayed voting in the remaining ten constituencies, and in one, the PPP’s candidate has returned unopposed.
According to the data provided by the ECP, the PPP has won 76 seats in Hyderabad, while the PTI has won 37, Independents eight, TLP two, and JI one.
The outcomes for 28 seats are pending.
The PPP also got its candidates elected unopposed on 31 seats, giving the party a total of 107 seats.
In Hyderabad, elections were held to elect chairmen and vice chairmen on 123 of 160 seats. Due to candidate deaths, polling in six UCs was postponed.
‘Doubts’
On Sunday, the voting in Karachi remained mostly peaceful, with a few reports of violence.
Official results from the ECP, which had been pouring in since midnight, suddenly stopped, which raised suspicions. The commission had to spend hours restarting the process.
Opposition parties reacted strongly to the situation, accusing the ECP of “collaborating with the ruling PPP” to achieve results.
The emir of JI Karachi, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, stated, “The PPP must accept the people’s mandate and stop engineering the results.”
Over 100 seats have been ours. He added, “We were provided forms 11 and 12 of those [100] UCs last night,” and that the results had changed by early morning.
He asserted that the JI lost seats where it had documented evidence of winning.
Similar accusations were made by PTI leaders, who even demanded that the ECP chief resign for his “failure” to ensure a free and fair election.
Ali Zaidi, president of the PTI Sindh chapter, said that the PPP used resources from the government to rig the results and that they engaged in “peaceful rigging.”
He stated, “They went for Plan B after they failed to rig the voting process due to our vigilant and dedicated team of workers at polling stations.”
He claimed, rejecting the results and promising to announce a course of action shortly, that “they used the government machinery under the ECP nose and ROs [returning officers] started working their job.”
ECP’s stance
The ECP offered an explanation for the delay in the release of the results, claiming that the polls conducted by local bodies were “the most complicated” to compile.
A “deliberate move” to delay the process was also ruled out by Provincial Election Commissioner Sindh Ejaz Anwar Chohan.
He told reporters at the provincial headquarters of the ECP, “The Election Commission is performing its duty amicably.”
He added, “Counting votes and compiling results were two different things,” and that “around 57 returning officers are performing duties round the clock without a break.”
“All of these tasks are being done by hand. General elections are never the same as elections for local bodies. They should not be compared, “he continued.
However, his arguments did not help the parties in conflict.
Before the complete results were released, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari claimed the majority in Karachi and Hyderabad, buoyed by the initial trend in the results.
He tweeted just before noon, when opposition parties were demonstrating for the release of the results, “According to feedback from our polling agents, the single largest party in Karachi will be PPP IA [Insha Allah].”
“Overwhelmed by the initial support for PPP from my city, my birthplace. # We will construct the Karachi we deserve together. #YeShaherKarachiBhuttoKa #KarachiHumSabKa
Many people were surprised by the somewhat “premature” celebrations, including experts who closely monitor the city’s political sands.
Mazhar Abbas, a respected columnist and journalist, stated that the PPP’s victory in Karachi did not indicate a rise in its popularity.
Mr. Abbas added that it was the result of the ruling party “managing things well.”
The PPP has, without a doubt, always enjoyed substantial support in Karachi. Then, “they further capitalized on it by creating the Keamari district, expanding the Malir district, and launching a transport service, in addition to recent development projects,” Mr. Abbas stated.
“They moved in that direction and planned things well in advance before any other party,”
He stated that the JI’s proactive campaign for Karachi’s rights, the empowerment of local government, and addressing issues at the grassroots were the only political gains and popular gains.
Mr. Abbas said, “They [the JI] got very good results from that,” contrasting the party’s victory with the PTI’s “setback.”
He stated, “The PTI never gave importance to Karachi’s politics or local issues,” adding that the poor performance of the former ruling party was not unexpected.
Mr. Abbas stated that voters never found PTI Chairman Imran Khan anywhere during the election campaign.
The seasoned journalist continued, “Mr. Khan even canceled his visits to Karachi twice that were planned when the polls were announced earlier.” It appears that the party never valued the elections for local government in Karachi.
