Election activities are still not visible in the constituencies, despite less than two weeks left for the April 18 date for the by-elections in Karachi’s 11 seats.
The Election Commission has fixed April 18 as the date for the by-elections for the seats of chairman and vice-chairman in total 93 union councils across the province.
Among them, 11 seats belong to Karachi. Elections were not held in these 11 seats due to death of candidates and other reasons. Candidates submitted their nomination papers till March 22 for these two-phase elections.
Earlier, Jamaat-e-Islami had announced a sit-in on 10 major highways of Karachi and filed a petition in the Sindh High Court over the delay in the by-elections. After which the Election Commission had released the schedule for holding the election on April 18. After which Jamaat-e-Islami announced to cancel the sit-in in Karachi.
Umar Farooq, a resident of Al Falah Road, Union Council Two, Bihar Colony, Lyari Town, told Independent Urdu over the phone that in his area, ‘every time preparations for the municipal elections were made vigorously. Several days before the election, corner meetings and rallies were held. But this time, despite few days left for the by-elections, no activity regarding the elections is seen in his area. So far no corner meetings have been held and no party has started rallies.’
Umar Farooq said, ‘The common people are worried due to the recent inflation. Therefore, they are not interested in the election. Secondly, these municipal elections have been postponed many times, so the common people feel that the elections will not be held this time as well. Therefore, people are not interested in electoral activities.’
Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi’s emir and mayor candidate Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said that due to the uncertain situation in the public regarding the elections, the election activities have not started yet despite a few days left for the election.
Talking to Independent Urdu, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said, ‘I don’t know about other parties, but Jamaat-e-Islami has started the election campaign for local body elections. Door-to-door election campaign is being conducted in 11 constituencies of Karachi.
But the main reason for the start of election activities despite a few days left is that the elections are being held in these 11 seats during the month of Ramadan. On which Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has also requested to hold elections after Eid.
“Therefore, the voter may think that the by-elections will not be held on April 18, so political activities may not have started yet.”
Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman said that the Sindh government has been using tactics to postpone the municipal elections during several phases, so the voter turnout during the elections has also been low.
According to him: ‘Jamaat-e-Islami has won the ward election of all these 11 constituencies with huge votes and we hope that Jamaat-e-Islami will also win the elections of UC chairman and vice-chairman.’
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Responding to this, Provincial Minister and Pakistan People’s Party leader Saeed Ghani said that holding or postponing the election is the job of the Election Commission, not the provincial government. Why will the provincial government postpone the election?
Speaking to Independent Urdu, Saeed Ghani said, “Whether the election campaign is going on by other political parties or not, but the candidates of Pakistan People’s Party have started the election campaign.” Along with distribution of pamphlets, corner meetings are also being conducted.
On the one hand, it is the month of Ramadan, and due to the elections being held in fewer constituencies, it may seem that election activities are not taking place, but this is not the case.
The previous local governments in Karachi were established in December 2015, whose term ended on August 28, 2020, and new elections were to be held in the next 120 days, but this did not happen.
The Election Commission postponed the local body elections many times due to amendments in the law, court battles of political parties, rains and floods and law and order situation in the country. The Election Commission of Pakistan has announced many times to hold elections, but these announcements have not been implemented.
Finally, on 15 January 2023, local body elections were held. The results of which were delayed, meanwhile there were claims of winning more seats between Sindh’s ruling party Pakistan People’s Party and Jamaat-e-Islami.
After the election to be held on April 18, the election of the mayor will be possible after the selection of the candidates for the specific seats.