KARACHI: The Karachi chapter of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has set a two-day deadline for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to announce schedule for elections in the union councils where the electoral exercise remains pending, and warned that his party would mount a sit-in outside the main offices in Sindh of the commission if the deadline is not met.

Announcing his ultimatum at a press conference, Karachi Emir of JI Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman said that local government elections were held for most of the seats in the city on January 15 but the ECP has yet to announce the schedule for polls in 11 union councils where the polling was postponed because of death of candidates.

He alleged that the ECP instead announced date for “useless” by-elections on the seats that recently became vacant after the government accepted resignations tendered by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmakers.

The JI leader also demanded of the ECP to decide the cases of six union councils immediately, declaring them as “open-and-shut cases on the basis of forms 11 and 12”.

Engr Naeem-ur-Rehman said that JI accepts the mandate of the Pakistan People’s Party over its seats, but the PPP should also show some courage and accept the mandate of the JI as the latter party emerged as the largest one in the city both in terms of the popular vote and union councils.

The PPP started submitting applications about various seats in order to put the commission under pressure, he claimed. It was the ECP’s obligation to decide the applications on merit.

The JI leader also urged the ECP to arrange oath-taking ceremony for the elected chairmen, vice-chairmen and councilors of union councils.

He praised the ECP for holding local government elections in Karachi despite strong pressure from the PPP and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) for putting them off. However, he said that the JI reserves the right to protest and launch a democratic and legal battle against the ECP if it goes against the Constitution.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023