Senior Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader and former Karachi mayor Waseem Akhtar said on Friday that his party rejects “bogus” local government (LG) elections in Karachi and Hyderabad due to "record low turnout" and demands re-election in Karachi, and Hyderabad, Aaj News reported.
“The voters’ turnout in majority areas of Karachi and Hyderabad was not more than five to seven percent, which is against the set standards. Even at this voters’ ratio, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) failed to provide 100 percent consolidated results of LG polls,” Akhtar said, adding that the people of Karachi and Hyderabad rejected LG polls.
He said Karachi generates a major share of the country’s income, but Pakistan Peoples Party-led Sindh government, in connivance with the ECP, stole Karachi’s mandate to pose itself as the single largest party.
“We, therefore, reject this election and demand re-election in both cities.”
The MQM-P leader said that the Sindh government had stolen half the elections through unjust delimitations, and then they rigged elections on the polling day to make it more controversial.
Akhtar said every political party other than the PPP had raised objections to the conduct of the ECP in the recently concluded LG polls.
Akhtar also called on Chief Justice of Pakistan Ata Bandial to take notice of the injustice meted out to the people of Karachi, saying if the state institutions did not take action on the irregularities, there will be worst consequences.
He warned that the people of Karachi and Hyderabad will come out to “snatch their rights” if state institutions didn’t intervene.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday released the final consolidated results of all 235 seats where the local government (LG) elections took place on Sunday, reported Aaj News.
As per the results, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) emerged as the biggest winner with 93 seats while Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) closely followed with 86.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) managed to bag 40 while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won only seven seats. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) and Independent candidates won three seats each.
Similarly, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) won one seat and Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) bagged two seats.
It is pertinent to mention that MQM Pakistan boycotted the polls prior to the elections.
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