Daily Times

The tenure of the local bodies expired in August 2020 and after a gap of two years, Karachi is all set to select its local government representatives for 25 town councils and 246 union committees.

There are three days left for polling in the second phase of local government elections in Karachi, on 24th July 2022. Elections are being held for the chairpersons of each union committee, vice chairpersons (joint), and the four ward members. In other words, there will be chairmen and vice chairmen of 246 union committees in Karachi. Moreover, there will be a mayor and deputy mayor with 25 chairpersons and vice chairpersons of 25 towns.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), 9,153 candidates are in the running for 1,470 seats, and Karachi has 8.45 million registered voters for which 5,017 polling stations and 18,643 polling booths will be set up and for the same, 17 million ballot papers have been printed.

The vice-chairpersons of the 246 union committees of Karachi will also be council members of their respective towns, while the chairpersons of the union committees will be members of the Karachi Metropolitan Council.

As far as union committees are concerned, each union committee elects its chairpersons and four ward members through election. After being elected, these officials will choose a youth, a minority, a laborer or a farmer, and a woman for the reserved seats. The number of town council members will vary depending on the number of union committees in each municipality, but the rate of the reserved seat remains the same.

In each town, 1% of trans people, 1% of special persons, 5% of women, 5% of youth, and 5% of workers or farmers will be elected to the reserved seats and then the chairpersons and vice chairpersons of the town will be elected. After that, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation will have 286 members, all of whom will participate in the election for the mayor and deputy mayor. However, the vice-chairmen of the union committees will be members of the councils of their respective towns.

Therefore, a union committee will consist of a chairman, a vice-chairman, and eight ward members.

As per details, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is the only political party that had fielded 241 candidates out of the city’s 246 union committees, while Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) had announced 233 candidates and MQM-Pakistan had 176 on other hand PPP had not issue their list yet but as per sources more than 200 candidates for chairmen and vice-chairmen are in the running.

Karachi’s every district has got its distinctive political diversity. The seven districts of the Karachi division are divided into 25 towns from where 9,153 candidates are running, Central District is the largest district with five towns and 45 union committees with 2076073 registered voters while 1,785 candidates are in the run from District Central. District East is the second-largest district with five towns and 43 union committees, and 1,454,059 voters while 1,583 candidates are running from East. In District Korangi, four towns and 37 union committees have been formed with 1,415,091 voters while 1,454 candidates are in the battle from Korangi District. The Western District also consists of three towns and 33 union committees with 909,187 registered voters while 1,149 candidates are trying their luck. Kemari District consists of three towns, 32 union committees, and 844,851 voters, while 1,261candidates are contesting from the Kemari. Malir District consists of three towns, 30 union committees, and 743,205 voters while 1,045 candidates are in the field from Malir. South District has two towns, 26 union committees, and 995,054 voters while 876 candidates are in the ground.

As several parties still sound unprepared for the upcoming local government polls in Karachi, the Jamaat-e-Islami has commenced its election campaign claiming itself “the only option to put the metropolis on the track to progress and development”.

While talking about Karachi’s local government election, senior political reporter Abdul Jabbar Nasir shared his experience saying that in Karachi if PPP, PML-N and JUI-F make seat adjustments so they might give tough time to MQM-P as far as MQM-P voter is concerned it may be divided into TLP and PSP but not to PPP saying that MQM-P and PPP are scrambling for power in the mega city.

Senior Journalist and Analyst Mansoor Mani said that it’s hard to comment that which party is going to get power because in 2018 election and recent by-election we have seen surprisingly drastic change in the shape of TLP adding that TLP may damage MQM-P voters adding that despite having a three-time mayor in the past, MQM-Pakistan could not deliver or serve the people of Karachi as they were supposed to.

On other hand PPP has done all the administrative homework to get the mayor-ship of Karachi as the city has been further divided and the number of districts has been increased from 5 to 7 and all efforts are being done to fulfill its long dream of getting the mayor-ship of Karachi. Political experts have predicted that as the voting ratio is getting down from time to time due to the boycott of unannounced ban on Karachi’s leading party in by-election, it may affect the votes of MQM-P and make it easier for PPP to have Karachi’s crown.

On Election Day each voter must cast two votes and get two ballot papers. They must vote for one joint chairman and vice chairman on a single ballot, while choosing a ward member on the other ballot paper.