Karachi mayorship ‘right’ of PPP, says Sindh minister

• Sindh minister claims PPP is the largest party in Karachi with 104 seats.
• Total seats of JI and PTI reach 191 after coalition.  
• Election for the mayor slot will be held on June 15.

Days before the elections for Karachi mayor, Sindh Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah on Saturday reiterated that the coveted slot of the port city mayor was the “right” of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) as it emerged as the largest party during the local body elections in the metropolis.

In the recently concluded Karachi local bodies polls, PPP emerged as the largest party but it failed to secure a simple majority of 179 votes needed for the seat of Karachi mayor.

PPP will need at least 22 seats even after an alliance with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

The race for Karachi's mayor office took an interesting turn last month when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) threw its weight behind Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) Hafiz Naeem Ur Rehman for the coveted post. After the latest development, JI's Hafiz Naeem is in a strong position to be elected as mayor. The JI leader claimed that his party has enough numbers to establish a local government in the city. As per the statistics, the total seats of the JI would reach 191 after coalition with the PTI.

In a stament, the Sindh minister said that his party wanted to work with JI leader for the development of the port city. “Hafiz Naeem Ur Rehman is respectable [to them] and they [PPP] wanted to work with him,” he added.

Talking about the Karachi mayor elections scheduled to be held on June 15, the PPP leader said that no one has been pressurised but if someone decides to vote as per their “conscience” then they will respect their decision. Key PTI leaders were parting ways with the party after May 9 mayhem, he added. 

The Sindh minister claimed that PPP is the largest party in Karachi with 104 seats.

On May 21, Sindh Labour and Human Resources Minister Saeed Ghani had claimed that PTI’s 43 UC chairmen will not vote for the JI candidate.

According to a notification issued by the district returning officer on June 3 (today), PPP bagged the highest number of reserved seats with a tally of 51, followed by JI which ended up with 43 and PTI which secured 20 seats. The PML-N managed to clinch six reserved seats while the JI could win just one reserved seat in the metropolis.