After being postponed 3 times in Karachi, the local body elections held in the shadow of doubts for the fourth time, like the previous elections, the turnout was extremely low.
In the final results that have come out so far, the turnout in local elections in Karachi has been between 25 and 30 percent.
Political analysts have expressed different opinions on the low voter turnout in the Karachi municipal elections. Many factors are being attributed to the low turnout.
After several years of delay, local body elections were announced in Sindh last year, after the successful holding of the first phase, the second phase of local body elections scheduled for July 24 in other districts including Karachi and Hyderabad was postponed 3 times for various reasons.
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After being postponed 3 times due to rains and floods, the turn of the local body elections came, MQM demanded to postpone the elections by justifying the defects in the constituencies and irregularities in the census. So MQM announced a boycott late at night a few hours before the election.
However, political analysts have interpreted the boycott of MQM as a last attempt to save its honor. Experts say that MQM, which was part of the governments in the last 10 years, disappointed the voters of Karachi due to its poor performance. While MQM has lost the trust of Pakistan voters after the betrayal of MQM by its founder.
Experts say that if MQM Pakistan had not boycotted the local elections, it would have lost its dignity due to the call of boycott by MQM founder Altaf Hussain and his worst political behavior.
Experts say that one of the reasons for the low turnout in the municipal election of Karachi may be the boycott call of Altaf Hussain, the founder of MQM, but the boycott of MQM Pakistan has nothing to do with the low turnout because as a result of contesting the election. MQM was only to suffer disgrace.
On the other hand, the Tehreek-e-Insaf could not perform well in the second phase of the local elections. According to analysts, the poor performance of the Tehreek-e-Insaf in Karachi is due to the neglect of Karachi by the central leadership and the intense campaign of the local elections by the party. Do not drive.
Analysts say that despite the worst election campaign, Tehreek-e-Insaf got votes because of Imran Khan’s personality, otherwise the local leadership would have left no stone unturned to sink the party.
Analysts also cited the lack of interest of the party leadership as the reason for the Tehreek-e-Insaaf voters not coming out. Political leaders and analysts blamed the controversial decision of NADRA and the Election Commission to transfer votes to permanent addresses for the decrease in turnout. Experts say that the urban population is reluctant to waste their holiday to vote, as a result of the controversial decision of the Election Commission and NADRA, the transfer of votes has fueled the fire.
According to experts, a large number of voters were busy searching for their polling stations on the occasion of the municipal election in Karachi. As a result of the controversial decision of the Election Commission and Nadra, there were many voters whose votes were transferred to a third party instead of their permanent address. Due to which the voters leaving their homes also faced severe difficulties in casting their votes.
Analysts say that the successive attempts of the Sindh government and the MQM to postpone the elections have also become a major reason for the low turnout as no one was 100 percent sure of holding the elections until the last night and political activists till the last minute. He was worried that the Sindh government would postpone the election in Karachi like Islamabad by passing an ordinance.
However, according to analysts, manipulation of election results by unseen forces is the main reason for the low turnout as state interference in the electoral process has seriously undermined voter confidence. This is the reason why voters’ confidence in the electoral process has gone up.