Tayyab Hussain elected Hyderabad mayor

HYDERABAD: Syed Tayyab Hussain and Syed Sohail Mehmood aka Sohail Mashhadi of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) were unofficially declared mayor and deputy mayor, respectively, of the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (HMC) after they defeated Allah Bux Pasha aka Pasha Qazi and Hassan Ali Jatoi of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) by a wide margin in the election held here on Wednesday.

Out of 143 members, 138 cast their votes and 111 of them voted for the MQM candidates. Pasha Qazi and Hassan Ali Jatoi secured 27 votes.

The polling started a bit late against its scheduled time, 9am. Divisional election commissioner Aijaz Ali Chohan, district election commissioner Imtiaz Ali Kalhoro and civil administration officials visited Jinnah Hall at the HMC, where the polling continued till 5pm.

A shouting match was witnessed between MQM and PPP supporters when Jabbar Khan of the PPP arrived there. The PPP activists started chanting “Bharat ka jo yaar hey, ghaddar hay, ghaddar hay” and the MQM activists responded with “Pakistan torrnay walon per la’anat”. Saghir Qureshi, Shahid Alam and other leaders managed to keep their respective sides at a distance in order to avoid a showdown, which at one stage looked imminent.

After the unofficial results were announced, MQM candidates were garlanded and led to the shrine of Sakhi Abdul Wahab Shah Jillani by their supporters. MQM MPAs and local leaders accompanied the candidates.

After the 1987 partyless local bodies elections, Syed Tayyab Hussain is going to become the fourth mayor of Hyderabad. HMC had its last mayor, Aftab Ahmed Sheikh of the MQM until the local government system was abolished. Abdul Rasheed Khan was the deputy mayor.

Subsequently, HMC was headed by different administrators till 2001. During the rule of president General Pervez Musharraf, the district governments system was introduced.

The polling for Tandojam municipal committee was also held on Wednesday. Mir Khan Mohammad Talpur and Liaquat Ali of the PPP won the slots of chairman and vice chairman, respectively, securing 12 out of 16 votes defeating MQM’s Imran Rajput and Sher Mohammad.

Syed Imdad Shah and Shahid Jaffar grabbed the slots of chairman and vice chairman of the Tando Allahyar municipal committee, respectively, in another election.

In Hyderabad division, PPP has already won the local councils of Thatta, Matiari, Sujawal, Jamshoro and Tando Mohammad Khan uncontested.