HYDERABAD: Adnan Rasheed — who was first elected as the UC-51 chairman as a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) candidate and then contested the election for Paretabad Town Council as an independent candidate to win PPP members’ support — was on Friday again elected as chairman of the council in a direct election held in Shahbaz Building.

The election was conducted as per a decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) after an earlier battle for the slot between Adnan and another PTI candidate, Sohail Jahejo. Adnan had contested against Sohail by violating his party’s directive.

In the Friday election, he defeated PTI’s Saqib Majeed by bagging 14 votes of the 29-strong electoral college. Saqib got 12 votes.

The results were announced by Returning Officer Gada Hussain Soomro.

Adnan Rasheed contested as ‘independent’ to defeat PTI’s Saqib Majeed

Hyderabad Deputy Commissioner Zain Ul Abiden Memon was the District Returning Officer (DRO) for the election, held by ‘show of hands’.

PTI has 21 members in the council. There were 26 members present in the house when the election was held. Two seats, UC-42 and UC-51, are vacant whereas the member from Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) did not turn up to vote.

The town council also has four members belonging to PPP who voted for Adnan. Despite having majority in the house, PTI could not triumph because of its internal rifts within the council.

Earlier, after winning the slot of UC-51 chairman, Adnan had not got himself elected as vice chairman for any UC falling within Paretabad town as is required under the electoral laws. The ECP, therefore, declared his both seats — town chairman and UC-51 chairman — vacant. Now he is again supposed to get himself elected as vice chairman of any UC falling within Paretabad town.

Other candidates in the Friday election were Mohammad Amir, also from PTI, and PPP’s Saifullah Magsi. They could not get a single vote.

Saqib Majeed, reacting to the results, alleged that the election was a “managed exercise” and vowed to challenge it in the relevant court of law. He said it was clearly a “floor-crossing case” as well. He said that the official letter/ticket to him was issued by PTI leader Haleem Adil Sheikh and the same was submitted with the DRO.

Adnan, on the other hand, said his party (PTI) did not have electoral symbol. He had been hobnobbing with PPP for a long time to keep his position intact, but he also kept trying to side with PTI and was seen accompanying Haleem Adil Sheikh when the latter had visited Paretabad after the May 30 LPG gas cylinder blast and fire that had left many people, most of them children, dead and injured.

Sohail Jahejo is son of PTI’s former Hyderabad division president Khawand Bux Jahejo.

In 2023, Sohail had a vote tie with Adnan in the election for the Paretabad town chairman’s slot. The matter landed in the ECP and they were allowed to share half the term each. Recently, the matter again reached the ECP on technical ground and the commission finally declared the seat vacant and ordered a fresh vote for the slot.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2024