KARACHI: More than seven million people will cast their votes to elect 5,401 candidates vying for 1,472 seats across the metropolis amid charged atmosphere during the final phase of the local government elections in Sindh on Saturday.

Polling will begin at 7.30am and will continue till 5.30pm.

The Sindh government has deployed 35,057 policemen to provide security to 4,037 polling stations, 93 per cent of which have been declared sensitive.

Some 7,400 Rangers personnel and 10 companies of the army — each comprising 80 soldiers — would be there patrolling the areas to ensure that the city is secure during the mammoth electoral exercise.

Officials in the provincial election commission said originally there were 1,520 constituencies up for grabs in Karachi. Of them, candidates on 48 seats returned unopposed, they added.

Some 7.08 million voters will elect chairmen and vice chairmen for 209 union committees and 38 union councils, which offer seats for 988 general members, 38 district council members and 494 women members for both union committees and union councils.

The party that grabs more than 105 union committees will be able to clinch the mayor slot. The Muttahida Quami Movement has fielded its candidates in 174 UCs only. The Jamaat-i-Islami and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf alliance fielded candidates in 203 out of the total 209 UCs, while the Pakistan Peoples Party fielded its candidates only in 188 UCs.

Giving a briefing to Chief Minister Syed Qaim Shah on the overall situation, Sindh Home Secretary Mohammad Waseem on Friday said there were some 4,037 polling stations set up across the city. Of them, he added, 1,714 were declared most sensitive, 1,329 sensitive and 226 normal.

The available strength of Karachi police was 26,957 while an additional force of 10,000 personnel would be provided from other ranges, units and training centres, making it somewhere close to 35,000, officials explained.

Besides, the army would deploy 10 companies, while the Rangers would patrol the streets in 88 mobile vans and on 180 motorcycles, said the provincial police chief Ghulam Hyder Jamali.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, director general Major General Bilal Akbar on Friday met Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad at Governor House where he said the paramilitary force had made ‘foolproof’ security arrangements for Saturday’s elections.

There are 12 major political parties and groups — Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Sunni Tehreek, Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam-Fazl, Jamat-i-Islami, Jamiat-i-Ulema Pakistan-Noorani, Awami National Party, PML-Functional, Mohajir Qaumi Movement, and Qaumi Awami Tehreek — besides a large number of independent candidates contesting the local government elections. The key contenders in this contest are considered to be the MQM, PTI, JI and the PPP.

MQM, JI-PTI alliance trade barbs

A war of words between the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the alliance of the Jamaat-i-Islami and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf erupted on Friday over the local government elections in the city, with each group alleging that their opponent would boycott the polls on one pretext or the other.

Speaking at a press conference, MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar alleged that the JI-PTI alliance had tried their best to get the LG elections postponed on the pretext of law and order, but the election campaign ended peacefully.

“So our opponents cannot escape from the elections,” he said, and ‘requested’ the two-party alliance not to ‘boycott the Saturday polling’ on any pretext and show courage by taking part in the process.

He said his party was contesting the elections in very difficult circumstances. But he hoped that the people of Karachi would again repose their full confidence in the MQM on Saturday.

In a tit-for-tat reaction, JI and PTI leaders held a joint press conference to make it clear that they had no intention of boycotting the elections.

Karachi JI chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said that it would be the MQM, and not the two-party alliance, that would boycott the Saturday polling.

PTI leaders Imran Ismail and Ali Zaidi alleged that ‘MQM-backed polling agents’ were being brought to Karachi from Hyderabad and there were serious errors in the voters’ list. “But we will not leave the ground open at any cost,” said Mr Ismail.

“It will be the MQM which will boycott the polling,” he added.

The JI-PTI leaders claimed that the new mayor of Karachi would be from their alliance, because the people would vote for them on Saturday.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2015