Shortly after reports of PPP’s Barrister Murtaza Wahab winning the Karachi mayor elections were run by a few news channels, clashes between JI and PPP supporters were reported outside the city’s Arts Council of Pakistan where voting had been under way on Thursday. A huge crowd of supporters of both parties clashing with each other. Some could be seen pelting stones. Other footage showed workers pelting stones at security personnel who could be seen blocking the projectiles with their riot shields.

Earlier, voting for the office of Karachi mayor and his deputy through a show of hands took place, with PPP’s Wahab and Jamaat-i-Islami’s Hafiz Naeemur Rehman in a head-to-head fight. According to unofficial results, Wahab won the election for the seat of the mayor by acquiring 173 votes while Rehman remained the runner-up.Although the PPP lacks a simple majority, it has emerged as the single-largest party in the 366-strong City Council — the electoral college for mayor and deputy mayor — following the January 15 local government elections and subsequent allocation of reserved seats.

On the other hand, the JI Karachi chief has the support of the PTI, in return for which the former has offered the PTI the seat of deputy mayor.However, not all is well yet for the JI-PTI coalition as cracks have surfaced within the PTI’s city chapter with a group of elected UC chairmen and vice chairmen announcing plans to not follow their party decision and to abstain from the voting process.

Both Rehman and Wahab reached the polling venue amid huge crowds of supporters. JI supporters could be heard chanting “Hafiz, Hafiz” repeatedly as the JI candidate entered the Arts Council premises. Speaking to reporters outside the voting venue, Wahab claimed his party had the required numbers to win the elections. “Our numbers are complete. If Jamaat-i-Islami’s numbers are higher, will respect them,” Wahab — also the former Karachi administrator — said.

He added, “We will have to come out of allegations. We will have to work together on Karachi’s master plan.”Meanwhile, three detained PTI leaders, including Firdous Shamim Naqvi, were brought to the Arts Council of Pakistan in armoured police vans. The PTI also shared a video of Naqvi exiting the van.Entry to the venue was closed at 11am and members were not allowed to enter after that.

32 out of the 62 PTI members failed to appear to cast their vote. Subsequently, the total number of UC members present was 333 out of 336. The voting process is reported to be peaceful till now. As the polling began, PPP Senator Saeed Ghani claimed the PPP had a strength of 173 with the PML-N and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) supporting it. In a tweet, he said, “All 173 members of the PPP, PML-N and JUI-F have entered the election hall.”

In a prior tweet, he claimed the JI had not gathered its members even once in a show of power.He said, “The PPP gathered its members twice during the election campaign for mayor/deputy mayor. The members’ attendance on both occasions was 100 per cent. “Hafiz Naeem could not gather his members at one location even once. Today’s result is clear,” he added. Talking to the media in Karachi, Sindh Transport Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon termed the JI a “fascist party”. He said they were allowed to protest peacefully but warned of taking action if they took the law into their own hands.

“A fascist party like the Jamaat handed weapons to students,” he said. Memon claimed the JI “wanted the PPP to get them votes from the PTI”. He asked, “If the PTI supporters are sitting at their homes [and] no one is voting [for them] then what can we do?” The PPP leader asserted, “If the JI would do hooliganism, we will not let anyone take the law into their hands. They can hold peaceful protests within the law. If anyone does vandalism, then the law will come into action.”

The PPP has 155 votes in the 366-strong City Council (one other seat is still vacant due to a withheld result). With the support of 14 PML-N members and four JUI-F members, the PPP has claimed a combined strength of 173. However, it still needs 11 more votes to get a simple majority of 184 seats and establish a local government in the city. The Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan, which has one vote, has not declared its support for any candidate.

On their rival side, the combined strength of the JI and PTI in the City Council stands at 192 — 130 of the JI and 62 of the PTI.But at least three PTI members are in prison and have not taken oath as UC chairmen. While the central and provincial leaderships of the PTI have ordered the party’s members to vote in favour of JI’s Rehman, some UC chairmen belonging to the PTI have said they would abstain from voting because they do not want to support the JI.Interestingly, JI emir Sirajul Haq has also recently been criticising the PTI governance, saying that it “destroyed the system” even after ruling Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for nearly nine years.If the PTI dissenters stick to their decision, it would go in favour of the PPP, which is the single largest party in the house. But in case no party manages to win a simple majority in the City Council, the candidate who bags the highest number of votes will be declared the winner.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP