The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday directed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) union council chairman to file supporting documents with his petition seeking a court injunction to stop the Karachi mayor election until all the PTI’s elected chairmen and vice chairmen have taken oath in the city government session. Zeeshan Zaib said in the petition that he had been elected chairman from UC-8 Shah Faisal Town, adding that 40 other PTI candidates had been elected chairmen and vice chairmen from different parts of the city.
He said the provincial election commissioner had issued a notification for the elected representatives of the local government to take oath on May 22, following which the election of the city’s mayor was supposed to take place. He added that PTI leaders and workers had initiated a mass protest campaign against the arrest of party chief Imran Khan on May 9, claiming that some miscreants took advantage to cause damage to public properties. He alleged that the government and the law enforcement agencies had started a crackdown on PTI leaders and activists without verifying the facts, and many of them had been detained under the Maintenance of Public Order or booked by the police on arson and rioting charges.
He said that a number of elected representatives were behind bars, so they would not be able to cast their vote in support of the candidate of their choice in the upcoming mayoral election. He added that he and the other elected representatives of the PTI had the right to take oath being representatives of the people as well as to cast their vote for electing the city mayor.
The court was requested to restrain the election commission from conducting the oath-taking ceremony until all the elected representatives of the PTI have appeared before the sessions, and to direct the government to ensure the safe and secure attendance of the PTI’s elected representatives for the ceremony and the subsequent mayoral election. The court observed that the supporting documents in the petition had not been filed by the petitioner, and directed him to file the same within three days, then adjourned the hearing until June 9.