Naeem, Wahab file nomination papers for Karachi mayor poll

Jamaat-e-Islami’s candidate for the Karachi mayoral election, JI city chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, and the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) candidate, Sindh government spokesman Barrister Murtaza Wahab, have filed their nomination papers for the poll scheduled to be held on June 15.

Saturday was the last day for the submission of nomination papers for the election for the Karachi mayor and deputy mayor. The submission papers will be scrutinised on Sunday (today).

A total of seven candidates have submitted their nomination papers for the mayor’s position, while nine candidates have submitted their nomination papers for the deputy mayor’s position.

Besides the JI’s Rehman and the PPP’s Wahab, those who have submitted their nomination papers for the mayor’s post include two covering candidates of the JI, Junaid Makati and Saifuddin Advocate, and one covering candidate of the PPP, Najmi Alam.

Two JI candidates, Saifuddin and Qazi Syed Sadruddin, have submitted their nomination papers for the deputy mayor’s post. The PPP has nominated Salman Abdullah Murad for the deputy mayor position, and Karamullah Waqasi and Shakir Shar as the covering candidates.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which is the third largest party in the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation City Council after the PPP and the JI, has already announced its support for the JI for the mayoral election, so none of the PTI’s members have submitted their nomination papers for the mayor’s position.

However, one of the PTI’s elected chairmen, Zeeshan Zaib, has submitted his nomination papers for the deputy mayor’s post. Some candidates of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz have also submitted their nomination papers, despite the party having little strength in the City Council.

The nomination papers will be accepted or rejected after scrutiny today. Appeals can be filed against the acceptance or the rejection of the nomination papers on Monday (tomorrow). Decisions on those appeals would be announced on Tuesday. Voting for electing the mayor and the deputy mayor would be held from 8am to 5pm on Thursday.

Hyderabad elections

Candidates submitted nomination papers for the mayor and deputy mayor’s slots in Hyderabad on Saturday, adds Aftab Ahmed.

The PPP nominee for the mayoral slot of the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, Kashif Shoro, and PPP District President Sagheer Qureshi filed their nomination papers for the position of deputy mayor.

Zahid Ali of the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan filed his forms for mayor and Tabish Hussain Khan for deputy mayor. According to Hyderabad Election Commissioner Yusuf Majidano, the documents of the candidates for the elections of mayor and deputy mayor and town chairmen and vice chairman will be checked on Sunday (today).

In the second phase of local government elections held on January 15, 2023, the PPP led in 113 union councils out of 160 UCs and got 79 reserved seats. Its total number of seats is 192. The Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan won two union councils and got one of the reserved seats.

The nomination papers of Muhammad Amir, Muhammad Ali Gohar, Muhammad Faisal Khan, and Shah Muhammad Shoro have been submitted as covering candidates for mayor and deputy mayor on behalf of the PPP.