MQM man’s win in District West declared null and void

Karachi 

The election of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) candidate Izhar Ahmed as chairman of District West in the final phase of the local body polls held a day earlier was declared null and void on Thursday.

After a recount of votes, the final result was changed and Asif Khan of the six-party alliance, Karachi Ittehad, was declared the winner. 

As per the new result, of the 36 votes received by Izhar Ahmed, 24 votes were adjudged to have been void. With the recount, Asif Khan was eventually declared victorious with a total of 31 votes.

The MQM had appointed Izharuddin Ahmed, former Nazim of SITE Town, for the slot of chairman of the DMC West, while for the slot of deputy chairman it had named its Pashtun leader, Gul Faraz Khattak, as the candidate.

The alliance, which had 35 members belonging to its component parties – PML-N, PTI, PPP, ANP, JI and JUI-F – had nominated the PML-N’s Asif Khan, younger brother of MPA Humayun Khan, for the position of chairman, while for the slot of deputy chairman the PTI’s Azizullah Afridi, who was the party’s former Karachi secretary general, had been named.   

The alliance has already distributed seats – including chairman, vice-chairman and reserved seats for labours, women, youth and non-Muslim – among the member parties.

The situation became tense at the DC West office on Wednesday afternoon when unofficial results declared the MQM’s Ahmed chairman and the PTI’s Afridi deputy chairman. Ahmed had reportedly received 36 votes, while the PTI’s Afridi received 44 votes.

After the announcement of the unofficial results, workers belonging to the alliance members began protesting and chanting slogans and fighting occurred between activists of the PTI and the PML-N. However, Rangers and police present on the site controlled the situation.

Abdul Razzaq, the JI District West’s head and a leader of the alliance, told The News that the PTI’s four members had sold their votes to the MQM.