KARACHI: The Sindh government on Friday questioned the role of the Election Commission of Pakistan and its move to withhold the election results of six union committees on a complaint of its rival Jamaat-i-Islami which claimed to have documentary evidence of rigging.

For the first time in recent months, the provincial government and the ruling PPP came up with a strong position against the ECP and sounded quite worried about the fate of the six UCs where it was declared winner but their results were later withheld. The result of the six UCs in favour of any party would change the number game between the PPP and JI.

It appears that certain remarks made by the Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja during the hearing of the complaints earlier this week have worried the ruling party in Sindh.

At a press conference on Friday, Sindh Labour Minister and PPP’s Karachi division president Saeed Ghani called the ECP move “illegal” and said it was being made “under JI pressure”.

“Can ECP tell the people of Karachi who was the aggrieved candidate behind complaints regarding any of these [six] UCs,” he asked. “The fact is none of the candidate approached the ECP. It was a local JI leader who had filed the complaint and the ECP took notice of it. It’s against the defined law. There’s a whole defined procedure of challenging or requesting anything regarding elections.”

Calls for release of complete results so that parties can finalise candidates on reserved seats

He referred to Section 46 of the Sindh Local Government Act and Article 225 of the Constitution which “supported” the Sindh government’s argument that only a contesting candidate can file a petition if he or she had any complaint about the electoral process after voting.

“It clearly shows that the Election Commission is under JI’s pressure,” said Mr Ghani. “I appeal to the ECP to officially release the complete results of Karachi local government elections.”

He said that the delay was not only putting a question mark on the overall process but also creating new challenges for the parties which got the mandate. “These parties have to finalise the names of candidates on reserved seats and that process cannot be started until the release of final results.”

He said that a PPP mayor would “serve Karachi” as the mandate won by his party reflected the support of the people of the metropolis.

“Those who are surprised over the victory of the PPP in the local government elections are probably oblivious to the fact that five MNAs and seven MPAs of the party are from Karachi,” he said.

He again advised all the contesting parties to respect each other’s mandate and approach the concerned forums for their justified grievances.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2023