PPP takes lead in Sindh LG polls marred by violence, rigging allegations

KARACHI: The ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has taken lead in the first phase of Sindh local government (LG) elections which was marred by violence and rigging allegations by the opposition parties unanimously on Sunday.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the security administration were found nowhere during the first phase of Sindh LG polls as the polling day was badly hit by different incidents of firing, scuffles, deaths, assaults on election camps, kidnapping of polling staff members in which at least two people including the brother of a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate were killed and several others got injured.

The LG polls were contested by 21,000 candidates for 6,277 seats of 101 town committees, 23 municipal committees, 14 district councils, four municipal corporations, eleven town municipal corporations and 887 union councils and union committees. It is important to mention that 885 out of 946 representatives had already been elected unopposed.

According to unconfirmed and unofficial results, the PPP secured victories in the municipal committees Mithi, Kandhkot, Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Ghotki and the majority of seats in the town committees including Kashmore, Khairpur, Khipro, Daur, Madeji and Thull.

The opposition alliance, Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) swept all the seven wards in municipal committee Pir Jo Goth in Kingri town of Khairpur district, whereas, the GDA secured half of the seats in the municipal committee having 12 wards in Sanghar district while the other half was won by the PPP. JUI-F and Jatoi family won a town committee election in Khairpur.

The provincial government led by PPP rejected the rigging allegations and claimed that the opposition parties were deliberately making the Sindh LG polls controversial after they failed to field an appropriate number of candidates in the 14 districts.

The violent scuffles were reported between PPP, PTI and GDA activists in different districts. The brother of a PTI candidate Asghar Gandapur in Ward 13 of Tando Adam was killed in a violent attack, whereas, another man lost his life in Sukkur and three others sustained wounds in clashes.

A Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) candidate Gulzar Ahmed Kato got injured at Dirab polling station. In Nawabshah, the polling was stopped after unidentified armed men took away electoral material from the polling station number 26.

The opposition parties including Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Sindh United Party (SUP), Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) and Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) rejected the entire electoral process and demanded the ECP call a fresh polls and declare the election null and void.

JUI-F Sindh Secretary-General Rashid Mehmood Soomro said in a media talks that the electoral process was full of riots and vote-rigging due to the failure of the ECP in discharging its duties. Soomro alleged that JUI-F polling agents were abducted in Jacobabad, Pano Aqil and Kandhkot.

The 14 districts of the four divisions where the first phase of LG polls was organised included Sukkur, Larkana, Shaheed Benazirabad and Mirpurkhas — include Ghotki, Sukkur, Khairpur, Larkana, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Kashmore-Kandhkot, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Naushahro Feroze, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Umerkot and Tharparkar.

The second phase of Sindh LG polls is scheduled to be held on July 24 in the Hyderabad division along with Karachi.

Due to the violence-hit polls, trade activities were suspended in mostly cities of Sindh including Sukkur on Sunday, whereas, public transport was also vanished from the roads, causing difficulties for the commuters.