PPP nominates Murtaza Wahab as Karachi mayor candidate

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Monday nominated Karachi’s former administrator Karachi Murtaza Wahab as its mayor candidate for Sindh’s provincial capital.

In a press conference, PPP leader Nisar Khuhro said his party’s nomination for deputy mayor of Karachi was Salman Murad while Kashif Shoro was the nominee for Hyderabad mayor.

PPP leads in Karachi local government by-elections

The mayor elections are set to take place on June 15. Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) are yet to announce their nominees.

On Twitter, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari congratulated all the nominated candidates and said “the people have expressed faith in the PPP. Now let’s go win the next round and get going with with what we do best, serving the people.”

“A special thank you to Hyderabad & Karachi for trusting us for the first time. I have full faith that Shoro & Wahab will be the first but not the last PPP mayors of our two great cities.”

Last month, PPP emerged as the largest party in local government by-election in Sindh. The polls were held in January on most seats and elections for remaining seats were held in May.

Overall, the largest number of seats in local government polls in Karachi were secured by PPP with 98 union committees (UCs), followed by JI with 89 seats and PTI with 42 seats.

As per reports, PPP won from seven out of eleven UCs in Karachi, while four UCs were bagged by JI.

PPP, JI claim victories: LG elections marred by low turnout

PPP also won two out of four union councils in Hyderabad. It bagged a majority in all the districts where elections were held.

In January, the much delayed local bodies elections were held in Karachi and Hyderabad divisions amid dismal voter turnout.

Karachi Division witnessed low voter turnout, amid MQM’s boycott. However, delay in declaration of results posed a question mark over the transparency of electoral process, and performance of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

As the JI and the PPP claimed their victory in the polls, the MQM-P said ‘low voter turnout’ was the victory of its decision to boycott elections.

Murtaza Wahab

Wahab served as administrator Karachi from 2021 until his resignation in September last year.

‘Karachiites have buried the politics of bullying’: Murtaza Wahab

His resignation came after the Sindh High Court’s decision to temporarily restrict Karachi Metropolitan Corporation from collecting the Municipal Utility Charges and Taxes (MUCT) through K-Electric bills.

He is currently serving as Special Assistant to CM Sindh.