ISLAMABAD: In a significant development ahead of the election on the vacant seat of capital’s mayor, three potential candidates are out of the electoral race even before submission of their nomination papers.

All the three deputy mayors belonging to the ruling PML-N in Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) - Azam Khan, Syed Zeeshan Naqvi and Chaudhry Riffat Javed - were supposed to contest the election but they were told that only chairmen, vice chairmen and members of union councils (UCs) can contest the polls for the office of mayor.

The seat fell vacant on Oct 1 after the surprised resignation of Sheikh Anser Aziz. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is all set to hold the election on Dec 28.

Sources in the local PML-N said so far the party’s local chapter could not decide about a candidate as the top three candidates were ineligible in accordance with section 12 and 27 of Local Government Act 2015 for contesting against the vacant seat of mayor.

They were told only chairmen, vice chairmen and members of union councils can contest polls

The sources said deputy mayors had been showing interest in contesting the election and they were considered the main players of the party.

But, a few days ago, they were informed that being deputy mayors they were ineligible to contest the election.

Subsequently, they filed a case in Islamabad High Court (IHC) and its hearing is slated to be held on Monday.

“Recently, we were told that being deputy mayors we can’t contest the election of the mayor, so we filed a case in the IHC,” Deputy Mayor Syed Zeeshan Naqvi told Dawn.

In the first ever local government election held in Islamabad on Nov 30, 2015, the PML-N had emerged as the majority party.

Initially, out of the total 79 members of the MCI the PML-N had grabbed 51 against PTI’s 28.

Later, some members from both the sides resigned from their seats to contest other elections.

Former UC chairmen Ali Nawaz Awan and Raja Khurram Nawaz are currently members of National Assembly while Abida Raja has been elected as member of the Punjab Assembly.

Currently, the MCI has 70 members (electoral college) with 45 members of PML-N and 25 from PTI.

Sources in the PML-N said if the deputy mayors could not get relief from court, the party will have to pick someone from the second tier leadership to contest the election.

They said PML-N local leaders Sardar Mahtab, Raja Waqar Mumtaz, Sajid Abbasi and Farman Mughal are among those who could be picked for the ticket.

PTI, which is the opposition party with 25 votes, has is also yet to make a final decision on awarding the party ticket.

However, the sources said local leaders Sheraz Kaini, Malik Amir and Qazi Tanveer are main contenders for the PTI ticket.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Capital Development Authority (SAPM) MNA Ali Nawaz Awan (who is former member and opposition leader of MCI) said his party has not finalise its candidate for the mayor’s election.

“We will field a strong candidate to contest the election,” he said.

Meanwhile, today (Friday) is the last day for filing of nomination papers for mayor’s election.

According to District Election Commissioner Islamabad Naeem Ahmed, so far 16 candidates have obtained nomination forms while other interested candidates could also get and submit them by 5pm on Friday.

The new mayor will be elected only for a maximum of two months as the five-year tenure of the mayor is going to be expired on Feb 15, 2021.

The election for the post of mayor was held on Feb 15, 2016. However, sources said former mayor Aziz had taken oath on March 4.

“It is yet to be decided if the tenure of the mayor will end keeping in view the date of his election or taking oath. The sources said like his predecessor the new mayor will be powerless as MCI has no funding from the government to run its affairs.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2020