Unnatural alliances dominate local government polls in District West

In the local government elections in District West, unnatural alliances of religious and Leftist parties have created an interesting situation as in many union committees (UCs), the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Awami National Party (ANP) are supporting each other and contesting against an alliance of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).

However, in a few UCs, the JI has also entered into partnership with the JUI-F, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and various pressure groups to give tough time to the PPP and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) candidates.

Inconsistent alliances have been formed throughout District West. For instance, the ANP has been supporting the JI in many UCs, but in some other UCs, it has allied itself with the MQM-P and PPP.

In terms of the number of contestants, the PPP and JI are ahead of other political parties. Political analysts believe that the PPP decided to make alliance with the JUI-F in many UCs to counter the JI-ANP alliance.

There are three towns in District West — Orangi Town, Manghopir Town and Mominabad. Manghopir Town has 16 UCs and 64 wards, Mominabad Town has nine UCs and 36 wards and Orangi Town has eight UCs and 32 wards.

The MQM-P seems to be largely focusing on Orangi Town as it has thin vote bank in Manghopir while Mominabad Town has a few pockets of Mohajirs. Even in the Mohajir-dominated areas of Orangi, the MQM-P is being threatened by the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan and Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi. Some political pundits also say that the MQM-London’s boycott of the elections will also cause difficulties for the MQM-P in Orangi.

The MQM-P has made alliances with the ANP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in some UCs. In MPR Colony, disgruntled workers of the PPP had made an alliance with the JUI-F against their own party but later, PPP Karachi President Saeed Ghani addressed their grievances, after which they withdrew their support for the JUI-F.

In Manghopir UC, two Pakhtun-nationalist parties have made separate alliances with religious parties. The ANP has made an alliance with the JI while the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party has announced support for JUI-F candidates.

A large number of Pakhtuns are settled in District West in Pathan Colony, Banaras, Zia Colony and Metroville. However, the Pakhtun-nationalist ANP could field candidates only in three of the 33 UCs.

According to the ECP statistics, a total of 2,330 candidates, including 1,336 for the post of councillor, and 497 for chairman and vice chairman each would be contesting the local government elections in District West.