MQM-P, independents secure two wards each in Karachi cantonment

According to unofficial results, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) emerged triumphant in the Karachi Cantonment Board (KCB) polls by gaining victory in two of its five wards.

Two other constituencies were won by independent candidates while one fell to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Among the total 40 contestants, five belonged to the MQM-P, as many to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), four each to the PPP, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), two to the Pak Sarzameen Party and one each to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Muslim League-Functional. A total of 14 candidates were running independent.

The KCB covers Lines Area, Bizerta Lines and some areas of Saddar and MA Jinnah Road. It has a pool of 36,970 registered voters, of whom 45 per cent are women but only two women candidates were contesting the polls. They were Rahat Baig of the TLP in Ward-3 and Rubina Anjum of the PPP in Ward-4, and none of them were able to succeed.

The voter turnout remained as low as 25 per cent on average but a tough contest was seen in these constituencies predominantly between the PTI, MQM-P, PPP and independent candidates. The JI could fare better in only one constituency but it remained unsuccessful. The rest of the parties could not put up a considerable show anywhere.

The Ward-1 was won by the PPP’s Danish Jinia who bagged 773 votes, just 18 more than the runner-up candidate Junaid Muhammad of the MQM-P. Independent candidate Chaudhry Nasir Ali Khan won the Ward-2 with 530 votes. The PTI’s Hisham Mirza was the runner-up with 414 votes.

Another independent candidate Ayub Khan won the Ward-3 by securing 680 votes while the PPP’s Raja Ameer Hamza gained 600 votes and came second. MQM-P’s Munir Yalson emerged victorious in the Ward-4 polling 667 votes and PPP’s Rubina Anjum was the runner-up with 508 votes.

The MQM-P also won the Ward-5 where its candidate Munawar Ali Qureshi bagged 1,969 votes, the highest across the KCB. The PPP’s Imtiaz Ali Shah remained runner-up with 1741 votes.