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The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) emerged as the top winner in the second phase of local body elections in Sindh on Monday, with unofficial results of Karachi showing Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) a close second.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued Karachi’s results over 24 hours after the close of polls at 5 p.m. on Sunday, triggering allegations of rigging from the JI, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUIF). In various media interactions throughout the day, the ECP defended the delay, maintaining that data from thousands of polling stations needed to be tabulated. It said the results were compiled in a transparent manner and regretted that political parties had been unwilling to wait a few hours for the results to be issued. The PPP has, likewise, also rejected any involvement in alleged rigging.
According to Sindh Election Commissioner Aijaz Anwar Chohan, each returning officer in Karachi had to tabulate the results of five to six union councils, noting that each council comprised around 25 constituencies. The returning officers had to make Forms 11 and 12 for each of the constituencies, he said, adding that there were 4,990 polling stations in Karachi alone, meaning almost 10,000 forms had to be prepared.
The unofficial results issued on Monday night showed the PPP winning 93 of the 235 union committees (UC) being contested in Karachi; followed by JI with 86; the PTI with 40; the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) seven; three each for the JUIF and independent candidates; and two for the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).
JI protests
Alleging rigging, JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said the numbers provided by the ECP did not match the data available to his party. Claiming his party had been winning in almost 100 UCs against the PPP’s 70-75, he said they would protest the “effort to transform a majority into a minority” and vowed to stage protests not only in Karachi, but nationwide.
To a question on a potential coalition with the PPP, he told Geo News that this would only be possible if the PPP accepted the JI as the winner in the local body polls for Karachi. Accusing returning officers of changing the results prior to issuing them, he claimed a lot of PPP supporters had also voted for the JI.
The PTI, meanwhile, rejected the results, claiming they did not reflect the “clear popularity” of their party. The PPP, in response, has challenged the parties to provide evidence of rigging in court.