ISLAMABAD: The Nawaz Sharif government is armed with legal powers to choose a member even indirectly from amongst fourteen of a total of sixteen such councillors as maiden mayor of the new Metropolitan Corporation (MC) of Islamabad. In case it takes such a decision, the directly elected chairmen of the fifty Union Councils (UCs) of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) in Monday’s local polls, who automatically become the MC members, will stand ruled out for the top local government slot. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) maintained its superiority over the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the ICT elections with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and twenty-three other political parties, which also contested the polls, having no say whatsoever as they failed to win even a single position of the UC chairman. While the PML-N had left the PTI far behind in the two phases of local elections in Punjab, Imran Khan’s team fared relatively better in the ICT as compared to its performance in the majority province. Although the PML-N emerged as the single largest party in terms of number of the chairmen of the UCs, it faces a deficit of five votes in scoring the simple majority in the MC to elect its mayor. However, less than a dozen independent winners, who stood third after the ruling party and the PTI, are easily available to the PML-N obviously for some consideration in the shape of berths of deputy mayors. The MC will have three deputy mayors. Contrary to the popular assessment, the PTI also won in some rural areas. It demonstrated a better performance than in the posh sectors of Islamabad. Similarly, the PML-N failed to sweep the rural areas, but succeeded in some middle class sectors of the capital. Comparatively, its performance in the rural areas was better than that of the urban region of the ICT. After facing consistent setbacks in the two phases of local elections and by-polls, the PTI has finally got something to rejoice although it is far away from getting the top MC position. At the end of the day, it will be left alone in the MC to act as opposition as the independent UCs chairmen will prefer to stand with the government party. While the PML-N and PTI had shared two National Assembly seats of Islamabad in the 2013 general elections, they put up a good contest in the ICT polls. Former Deputy Speaker Haji Nawaz Khokhar got a substantial number of UCs’ chairmen elected as independents and hopes to get at least a deputy mayor of his group elected in exchange for cooperation with the PML-N. The local polls in the ICT were undoubtedly most fair, free and transparent as the elections were in Punjab and Sindh, the PTI stuck to its mantra of doubting the process instead of conceding its inability to match the PML-N. According to its strange logic, the sixteen seats of chairmen that it bagged saw an impartial and honest polling while the areas where the PML-N succeeded were marred by manipulation and meddling by police. After the election of the sixteen indirectly elected members, the MC will comprise a total of sixty-six councillors under the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act, 2015, who will elect the mayor. These sixteen members, who will be elected by the chairmen of the UCs, will consist of nine women; and two members each from non-Muslims, workers/peasants and youth; and one technocrat. With a non-Muslim mayor being out of question, the government may select anyone from amongst the remaining fourteen indirectly elected members of the MC to be its mayor should it decide not to grant this office to any UC chairman after not finding anyone of them suitable to hold this key slot. Under the act, the mayor and deputy mayors will be elected as joint candidates in the first session of the MC, from amongst the members including the indirectly elected councillors. It is not mandatory for them to be elected by the majority of all the MC members, sixty-six. The majority for their success will be required only of the members “present and voting”. The term of office of the MC will be five years commencing on the date on which it assembles for its first meeting, which will be held not later than thirty days from the day on which the names of its members are notified (by the Election Commission of Pakistan). The MC, in its first meeting and to the exclusion of any other business, will elect the mayor and deputy mayors. While the mayor will be elected through a simple majority of the members “present and voting”, he/she can be ousted through a no confidence vote by a two-thirds majority of the total membership, sixty-six, of the MC. A motion of no-confidence will not be moved before the expiry of one year of his assumption of office as the mayor or deputy mayor. Where such a motion has been moved and fails for want of the requisite majority of votes, no similar resolution will be tabled against him before the expiry of one year from the date when such motion was sponsored.
