• PTI, JI, GDA accuse PPP of vote rigging; ECP termed ‘silent spectator’
• Sindh’s ruling party accuses opponents of sabotaging peaceful exercise
• MQM-P feels vindicated by ‘low turnout’

KARACHI: After remaining largely smooth and peaceful throughout the day on Sunday, the local government elections in Karachi, Hyderabad and other parts of Sindh came under a question mark later in the night when contesting parties accused the ruling PPP of vote rigging and criticised the Election Commission of Pakistan as a “helpless and silent spectator”.

The PPP, on the other hand, blamed its rivals, mainly the PTI, for deliberately sabotaging the peaceful process after sensing defeat in most parts of the province, including its stronghold Karachi.

The situation emerged hours after polling ended at 5pm, with parties alleging that the results of the second phase of local government elections in Sindh were deliberately being delayed in Karachi.

The PTI openly accused the PPP and the provincial administration of wrongdoing, warning that any attempt to “change the results” after voting would lead to a strong reaction.

“I am closely monitoring the results of each polling station, ward and UCs [union councils],” tweeted Syed Ali Haider Zaidi, the PTI president in Sindh.

He said his party was “coming out as the leading party in Karachi. I am also being informed about games being played behind the scenes by the dirty forces of PDM [Pakistan Democratic Movement]. Political engineers should respect public mandate”.

Delay in results

Jamaat-i-Islami came up with the same reservations and allegations. Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, the party’s Karachi chief, held at a hurriedly called press conference at its headquarters in the city and warned of sieging the polling stations where he said results were deliberately being delayed “to manage things”.

“With this complaint, I personally contacted a senior member of the Sindh government who assured a smooth process and announcement of results,” he said.

He said that in Central District, the deputy commissioner had announced recounting at several polling stations without informing about the fate of the first count.

In Hyderabad and rural districts of the province, the key contestant Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) — an umbrella of different political parties representing the opposition — rejected the electoral process and demanded “immediate intervention” of the state institutions. It also blamed the ECP for facilitating the ruling PPP in rigging and violation of the code of conduct.

“In Badin, Matiari and Saeedabad, the PPP feudal lords have broken all records of violation and rigging and this is all happening under the administration and the ECP,” said the GDA spokesperson in a statement. “We reject this electoral process and its results. The ECP has failed to execute its primary jobs, which are fair and transparent elections.”

However, the PPP accused the PTI of violating the rules and going beyond all set rules to sabotage the peaceful process, mainly in Karachi.

Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon accused the opposition party of “committing the worst form of terrorism amid the local government elections”.

“The PTI goons attacked the son of PPP leader Shahida Rahmani at one of the polling stations,” he said in a statement. “The PTI should stop staging the politics of hooliganism. The PTI is not a political party and it proved it again in Karachi local bodies’ elections. They are making the process disputed after seeing devastating defeat.”

Polls ‘lack moral value’

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), which boycotted the elections, said its narrative was successful, as the elections in Karachi and Hyderabad failed to win the people’s mandate. The party did not participate in the polls citing incorrect delimitation of constituencies, fake voter lists, and less count of the city’s population in the 2017 national census.

On Sunday, the MQM-P leaders, in a press conference at its temporary headquarters in Bahadurabad, reiterated their anger against the ECP for allegedly failing to play its due role and going beyond its constitutional mandate to allow the local body elections despite the Sindh government’s withdrawal of a notification on delimitation.

“With this [low] turnout, these elections have already lost their moral value,” said MQM-P convenor Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqi.

“It would further prove in the days to come that the MQM was right and those who contested the polls despite knowing injustice and illegal process of all this exercise would be rejected by the people of Karachi. In fact they have sold out their political future. The people of Karachi would never accept them as their local government representatives,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2023