SUKKUR: There will be no contest and no electioneering for local government elections in Ghotki and Khangarh talukas as majority of candidates belonging to the Pakistan Peoples Party Mahar group have returned unopposed in the two towns, leaving Mirpur Mathelo, Daharki and Ubauro to decide their fate on Oct 31.

PPP Mahar group candidates have clinched most seats of union councils of Ghotki and Khangarh talukas as well as of Ghotki town committee and Adilpur town committee.

The few candidates still holding out against the Mahar group are trying their best to win over voters and give some semblance of legitimacy to the election in which candidates belonging to the PPP Mahar group, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, PML-Functional, Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party, Sindh United Party and several independents are taking part.

The expected aspirant for the office of chairman of Ghotki district council is Haji Khan Mahar, son of PPP MNA Ali Gohar Khan Mahar, and prospective candidate for the chairman of Khangarh town committee is Ahmed Ali Mahar, son of PPP MNA Ali Muhammad Khan Mahar.

A PPP rival, Shahbaz Khan Loond, also managed to get elected unopposed, according unofficial results.

‘Unarmed guards may protect politicians’

KHAIRPUR: The district administration has allowed political leaders that they can keep ‘unarmed’ security guards with them on election day on Oct 31 in accordance with the code of conduct of the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Khairpur deputy commissioner Munawar Ali Mithiani, who is also district returning officer, and SSP Pir Mohammad Shah said at a joint press conference here on Wednesday that the guards would be without arms in all cases even if they were policemen.

They said that if anyone was found violating the code of conduct, he would be arrested. The code of conduct also required that no journalist could air or publish election result without confirmation of the DRO or RO as the unconfirmed results created problems later, they said.

With regard to the law and order situation, they said, the district had been divided into three zones, Nara and Faiz Gunj, Kingri, Gambat; Sobhodero; Khairpur and Kot Diji.

They said there were 796 polling stations in eight talukas of the district of which 250 polling stations were declared as the most sensitive and 431 as sensitive. Nara and Kingri talukas and half of Faiz Gunj taluka were the most sensitive, they said. They said that 5,000 policemen and 1,000 Rangers personnel had been deployed in the district to perform duty on election day.

Published in Dawn October 29th, 2015

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