KARACHI: Like other parts of the province, the oath of office was administered to over 1,500 newly elected members, chairmen and vice chairmen of the local bodies institution in Karachi’s six districts.

They were administered the oath by the district and sessions judge of their respective district at formal ceremonies held in six different parts of the city.

Those administered the oath included 982 members of the union committees, 246 chairmen, as many vice chairmen and 38 members of the union councils.

Among others who were formally inducted as elected officials of the local bodies institution included MQM MNA Rehan Hashmi, MPA Dr Arshad Vohra and leader Waseem Akhtar, who is nominee for the office of city mayor.

After taking the oath, Mr Akhtar told the media that the situation demanded that all elected representatives work by remaining over and above the party affiliation to deliver to the people.

In this connection, he appealed to the Jamaat-i-Islami, Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf to offer their cooperation.

Meanwhile, Sindh Minister for Local Government Jam Khan Shoro extending greetings to the newly elected members on swearing oath of their office assured them of full cooperation from the Sindh government and his department in discharge of their responsibilities.

Speaking at a press conference, Karachi region PTI chief organiser Ali Zaidi congratulated all the members, chairmen and vice chairmen on taking on the new responsibilities and reiterated his party stand that the city mayor be given complete powers. “Unless the mayor is empowered, Karachi cannot make progress,” he said.

Karachi PPP President Najme Alam and General Secretary Nadeem Bhutto also greeted the newly elected members and expressed the hope that they would remain over and above their political affiliation to work to restore the past glory of Karachi.

According to election commissioner of Karachi Central district Syed Nadeem Haider, the oath-taking ceremony was held at the auditorium of Karachi Medical and Dental College.

Additional and district sessions judge Zeeshan Akhtar administered the oath to all the 306 elected members from the district central, including deputy mayor nominee Dr Arshad Vohra and MNA Rehan Hashmi.

In Karachi West district, the oath-taking ceremony was held at the zonal office of Site where 314 of the 318 elected members members were administered the oath. The ceremony was held in two phases, as in the first phase members of the 46 union committees were administered oath while in the second phase members of the six union councils and six members of the district council took the oath of their offices. The district and sessions judges, Zahoor Ahmad and Maqbool Ahmad Memon, administered the oath to the members of the first and second phases, respectively, said Karachi West Election Commissioner S.M. Akram.

In Malir district, 224 members of the 32 union councils and 78 elected members of the 13 union committees were administered oath by district and sessions judges Zakaullah Abro and Nadir Ali at the Old DMC building and Yunous Chowrangi in Landhi, respectively.

According to Karachi South Election Commissioner Waseem Jaferi, 186 members were administered the oath at the ceremony held in two phases at the Sindh Boy Scouts Association auditorium on Deen Mohammad Wafai Road.

In Korangi, according to election commissioner of the district Syed Rashid Hussain, Judge Mehboob Ali administered the oath to 220 members of the local bodies at the ceremony held at a marriage hall in Darus Salam Society of Korangi Crossing.

In Karachi East, according to election commissioner of the district Abdul Zubair Khan, 183 newly elected members of the local bodies were administered oath at the ceremony held at the auditorium of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2016