The estranged workers and local leaders of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in District Malir can cause a setback to the party in the second phase of the local government elections scheduled for Sunday.
In the period during which the polls were delayed, the party reached out to the alienated workers and leaders. After differences had emerged in the party’s local leadership, the alienated PPP workers fielded several candidates from the panel of the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) against the PPP.
The PPP can, however, easily manage to win a number of UCs comprising the suburbs of Gadap and Ibrahim Hyderi, as the Malir district is considered one of the PPP’s strongholds in the city.
The district includes Cattle Colony, Shah Latif Town, Feature Colony, Mansehra Colony, Steel Town, Malir, Khokhrapar, Rehri Goth, Quaidabad and other areas. It is divided into Gadap Town, Malir Town and Ibrahim Hyderi Town.
They constitute 30 UCs comprising 120 wards across the district. Gadap Town has nice UCs with 36 wards, Malir Town has 10 UCs with 40 wards, and Ibrahim Hyderi Town has 11 UCs with 44 wards.
The Jamaat-e-Islami and the Rajakhail Panel have formed an alliance against the PPP in the UCs of Feature Colony and Mansehra Colony. The PPP’s estranged local leaders Naseem Dishani, Aurangzeb and Umer Wali have also formed independent panels in these UCs.
They will be contesting against their own party as well as other political opponents. This is why the PPP is the least likely to win these UCs. The JI’s Mairaj Khan, who had won UC-7 of Sherpao Colony in the previous LG polls, is contesting from the same area. He might retain UC-7.
The political parties comprising the Pakistan Democratic Movement are contesting the LG elections against one another in the district. However, two large alliances have been formed for the polls.
One alliance has been formed between the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, and the other between the Awami National Party and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl. Electioneering of the two alliances is at its peak in the Malir and Ibrahim Hyderi towns.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) local leaders have formed an alliance with the Pakistan Rah-e-Haq Party (PRHP), formerly the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan. The PTI Sindh leadership opposed the decision, but the party’s local leaders have fielded joint candidates with the PRHP in some UCs without acquiring party tickets.
Political observer Sartaj Khan, who belongs to District Malir, told The News that the PPP and its allies are facing two major challenges in the district. Despite this, he said, the PPP had influenced the delimitation process in the district.
“On the one hand the PPP’s candidates are in the run against strong candidates of the PTI and the PRHP, while on the other, the PPP’s estranged local leaders, who haven’t been issued party tickets for Malir Town and Ibrahim Hyderi Town, are contesting from the PPPP’s panel.”
Khan said that these alienated workers are backed by the PPP’s MNAs and MPAs because of their differences with the district-level party leadership. However, those differences were recently settled by the party leadership.
“In Malir and Ibrahim Hyderi towns, the PPP and the PPPP candidates were facing off each other. However, in the period during which the polls were delayed, the party contacted the estranged workers and a number of panels withdrew their candidates in favour of the PPP.”
He said the PPP leadership convened several meetings in District Malir to resolve the matter between the PPP and the PPPP panels. He pointed out that the PPP’s Rafique Jat won the chairmanship of Rehri Goth UC uncontested. Jat was considered a favourite candidate for the town chairmanship. He was a former vice chairman of the District Council Karachi, a separate municipal body inclusive of the city’s suburbs.
The PPP is confident of winning a majority of the seats because of its alliances in various UCs. Moreover, Gadap Town is considered a PPP stronghold. It is expected that the PPP will manage to elect town chairmen in the district after bargaining with other parties. “Malir is considered one of the PPP’s strongholds,” said Khan, “but the party faces various challenges, and it most likely can’t achieve its targets.”
According to the statistics issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), 1,884 candidates — 1,140 councillors, 372 vice chairmen and 372 chairmen — hoped to contest the LG elections in District Malir.
The data shows that 1,140 contestants for ward councillors had filed their nomination papers from 120 wards of the district. However, the ECP rejected the nomination papers of 129 candidates. Likewise, 744 candidates for chairmen and vice chairmen had filed their nomination papers from 30 UCs. The ECP, however, approved the nomination papers of 684 contestants.