LARKANA: The final phase of local government elections for the slots of mayor, deputy mayor of the Larkana Municipal Corpo­ration (LMC) and chair­man and vice chairman of the Larkana district council was peacefully held under elaborate security arrangements at two different venues here on Wednesday.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)-backed candidates swept the polls for both houses defeating their rivals belonging to the Larkana Awami Ittehad (LAI) and Pakistan Peoples Party-Workers (PPP-W).

The voting for the slots of mayor and deputy mayor of Larkana was held at the Govt Pilot Higher Secondary School. The LMC has 30 members and all of them cast their votes.

According to unofficial results, Mohammed Aslam Shaikh and Anwar Ali Luhar of the PPP secured 22 votes each to become mayor and deputy mayor, respectively. The PPP-W candidate for the office of mayor, Haji Mohammed Awais Abbasi and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl candidate for the slot of deputy mayor, Mehmoodul Hassan, polled eight votes each.

Khan Mohammed Sangro and Abdul Hayee Shah of the PPP bagged 61 votes each to become the chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the 69-member Larkana district council. Their rivals, Sadik Chandio of the PPP-W and Syed Asghar Shah of the PML-F polled eight votes each.

Zohaib Bughio, a member of the house from the Karani union council, died about three months ago and two other members, Adnan Bughio from the Madbaho union council and Amir Bakhsh Bhayo from the Matoo union council, did not turn up to cast their votes. Prof Jam Jamali was the presiding officer at the Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto Memorial Library, where polling was held.

Prominent among others who cast their votes were Food Minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro’s daughter, Nida Khuhro, former MNA Hizabullah Bughio and Agriculture Minister Suhail Anwar Siyal’s brother, Tarique Siyal.Jubilant PPP workers chanting slogans in favour of their party and winning candidates marched up to the house of Nisar Khuhro and celebrated the victory.

Later, they drove to Garhi Khuda Bukhsh Bhutto in a caravan of many vehicles to offer fateha and lay wreaths at the Bhuttos’ graves.

Mr Khuhro and the winning candidates led the party activists and supporters to the mausoleum, where they resolved to carry forward the mission of PPP founder chairman Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2016