Nomination papers of six mayor candidates, including Wahab and Naeem, accepted

The Election Commission of Pakistan on Sunday approved the nomination papers of six candidates for the Karachi mayor election scheduled for June 15.

A total of seven nomination papers were accepted for the election of the deputy mayor of the city. The scrutiny process for the nomination papers was conducted on Sunday.

After the acceptance of nomination papers, the six mayoral candidates include three from the Pakistan Peoples Party — Murtaza Wahab, Syed Najmi Alam and Karamullah Waqasi — and as many of the Jamaat-e-Islami —Naeemur Rehman Khan, Muhammad Junaid Makati and Saifur Rehman. It is expected that the mayoral contest will be between Wahab and Naeem and the other candidates will withdraw their candidature.

The seven candidates for the deputy mayor as of now include Salman Abdullah and Arshad Ali from the PPP, Saifuddin and Qazi Saeed Sadruddin from the JI, and Muhammad Akram, Muhammad Yaqoob and Ghulam Shoaib from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

A Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidate for the deputy mayor’s slot withdrew his nomination papers on Sunday. As per the schedule announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan, appeals against the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers can be submitted today (Monday, June 12). The decisions on these appeals will be made on June 13.

Candidates will be allowed to submit party tickets by June 14, and the final list of candidates will be issued on the same day. The polling to elect the mayor and deputy mayor will take place from 8am till 5pm on June 15, and the returning officer will announce the results on June 16. The oath-taking ceremony for the heads of the municipal councils in the province will be held on June 19.